


Whatever It Takes

by TheJediCode



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Armitage Hux Has Issues, Assassination Plot(s), Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Memories, Conspiracy, Emperor Hux, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, First Order Reader, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hux-centric, Jealousy, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Sex, Not Canon Compliant, Not Episode VIII Compliant, Oral Sex, POV Hux, Post-Canon, Post-War, Propaganda, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, Vaginal Sex, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2018-12-29 20:11:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 43,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJediCode/pseuds/TheJediCode
Summary: A war, a victory, a girl with a mysterious past, and a newfound position of authority as the figurehead of the New Galactic Empire all threaten to shake Armitage Hux's entire world.  His new leadership role, however, comes with unexpected responsibilities.  Establishing a strong rule leads to a marriage of convenience that maybe, just maybe, could become something more.Request by Lexianne25:  Hux POV, Emperor Hux, Pregnant Reader, Comical





	1. Promotion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lexianne25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexianne25/gifts).



> So, as you will be able to tell, this chapter is set before Hux becomes emperor. It might take a little while to reach that point in the story arc I have planned, but I assure you that it will happen. Also, it will be quite some time before any romantic stuff takes place. Parts of the story will be serious, there will be plenty of funny/awkward moments to break the tension.

“Why do you think you deserve a promotion?” Hux asked disinterestedly, barely looking from his paperwork at the woman seated on the other side of his desk.  She was of no concern to him, just another mediocre bridge officer hoping to negotiate an unmerited advancement.

“Well, I’m sure you’re aware that there’s an opening ever since…” the officer began.

“Yes...” He realized that he had no idea what her rank was and had to glance at the insignia on her sleeve. “…Lieutenant, I’m aware that there are unfilled higher-ranking positions.  I’m not ignorant to the fact that we lost many excellent officers during the attack made by Resistance forces.  However, the positions will be filled when – and only when – officers rise to the occasion to warrant promotion.”

“Can I convince you somehow that I should be promoted to Captain?”

“How do you plan on doing something like that?”

“Maybe I could do something for you,” the lieutenant intoned suggestively.  “I’ve heard that it’s lonely at the top.  Maybe you could use some company.  There are all sorts of things I can do.”

“Is one of those things your job?” Hux asked her facetiously, fed up with all the time that had been wasted on such a pointless conversation.  “Report back to your post, Lieutenant.”

“Yes sir,” she grumbled, exiting his office in a hurry.

It had been less than two weeks since the Resistance attack, and Hux was already being bombarded with speeches from low-ranking officers about why they deserved to move up the chain of command.  This lieutenant was far from the first to attempt the exchange of sex for promotion.  He had received offers from both male and female subordinates alike.  Many who hailed from wealthy families had attempted monetary bribery.  As annoyed as he was becoming with their requests, they were correct about one thing.  General Hux would need to promote someone eventually.  However, advancements in the First Order were made on the grounds of merit, not merely necessity, and none of the officers who had appealed to him were deserving.

Furthermore, there was something for which they did not account.  The need for officers would be dwindling in the very near future.  It wasn’t common knowledge by any means, but Hux could tell.  The years he had spent training for command told him that an end was near.  The Resistance attack that had taken out his officers had been desperate.  A handful of fighters had bombarded his flagship and were all shot down in the process.  It was a futile attempt, a suicide mission, and it meant that the terrorist cell was well on its way to defeat.  The winds of war were changing, and they were changing in the favor of the First Order.

Still, he did need to fill at least one of the empty positions.  He sighed as he scrutinized a list of potential candidates.  As he scanned the register of names and statistics, on caught his eye:  (Y/N) (L/N).  She was a young lieutenant, hardworking and impressively skilled.  He knew she had done exemplary work in the past.  Even better, she hadn’t ever come to him begging to increase ranks.  After a moment of consideration, Hux came to the conclusion that she would make a fine captain.

He pulled the girl’s file from the records and took it back to his office for study.  When he began to thumb through the dossier, he was surprised to find it incomplete.  The great majority of the lieutenant’s information was missing entirely.  A bit perturbed by the shoddy recordkeeping, he resigned himself to talk to the girl.  He sent someone to collect her from the bridge.

“Come in, Lieutenant (L/N),” he called out when a light knock sounded against his door.  In walked a young woman so obviously terrified that she was visibly trembling.  “How are you today?”

“Fine, sir,” she said meekly, saluting him with a shaky hand.

Hux rolled his eyes.  “At ease, Lieutenant.”

“Am I in trouble, sir?”

“No, certainly not,” he informed the girl, gesturing for her to take a seat.  “In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  Unless, of course, you’ve done something against protocol that you would like to tell me about.”

“No, sir,” she said quickly.

“In that case, we can proceed as planned.  I called you here to discuss the matter of your work for the First Order.  You have an exemplary track record, and… Lieutenant, are you quite alright?”

“Fine, sir,” she said again, looking far from fine.

“There is no reason to be afraid.  You aren’t being reprimanded.”

“Sorry, sir.”

Hux ran a hand though his neatly combed red hair and sighed.  “Maybe you should take a moment to collect yourself before we continue the conversation.”

She took a deep breath.  “No, I’m alright, sir.  I just haven’t ever been called to your office before.  I’m a bit nervous.”

“There’s no need to be.  I can assure you that you’re just here to supply me with some missing information.”

“Oh, alright then.”

“Your personnel file is incomplete.  There are no test scores, Academy rankings, record of graduation, or even an indication that you were enrolled in a training Academy at all.  I can have someone request these documents, but I won’t know where to get them unless you tell me where you trained.”

“You won’t be able to find the documents at any of the Academies, sir,” she told him.  “I didn’t attend one.”

“As amusing a sentiment as that is, your file must be completed.”

“It wasn’t a joke, sir.  I really didn’t attend an Academy.”

He gazed at the lieutenant sternly.  “You’re an officer of the First Order.  You must have completed Academy training.”

“I was given an honorary certificate, but I didn’t study to become an officer, aside from the on-the-job training.”

“Then how did you come to join the Order?”  The things she was saying didn’t add up.   Graduation from and Imperial or First Order Academy was a necessary prerequisite to rank.   Hux himself had completed his studies with exceeding marks.

“I was recuited, sir, when I was young.”

He almost laughed aloud at the statement.  When she was young?  She was still young, incredibly so.  “And how did you manage that, lieutenant?”

“I turned over two high-ranking members of the Resistance when I was fifteen,” she explained.  “I shot down their X-wings and signaled First Order forces to come and collect them.”

“Most impressive,” Hux mused, realizing that there was more to the girl than what met the eye.  She didn’t look like much to be reckoned with, but subduing trained military combatants was no insignificant feat.  He was further impressed by the fact that this information was completely new to him.  She wasn’t one to boast, obviously.  Her chances of promotion were becoming greater by the moment.

“Lieutenant (L/N), how would you feel about becoming a captain?” he asked after a brief silence, believing that it was time to get to the point.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to serve the First Order, sir.”


	2. Appointed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Supreme Leader Snoke places a tremendous responsibility upon Hux.

“Can you feel it, General?”  The deep, haggard voice of Supreme Leader Snoke filled the chamber. 

Hux stared up at the enormous hologram and pondered his response. “I am not sensitive to the Force, Supreme Leader.  I don’t sense these things as you do.”

“I am aware.  However, there are some things one does not need the Force to discern.  Surely, you know what is coming.  Your training and experience make it clear to you, do they not?”

Hux understood.  “An end is in sight.”

“Indeed it is, General.  The time will soon come when this war will be over.  The First Order will finally have control.  The New Galactic Empire will be the ruling power over these many star systems.”

“As it rightfully should be.”

“This new empire will need a ruler,” Snoke declared.  “Someone will have to maintain order.”

“Your rule will not be questioned if the people have any sense of self-preservation.”  General Hux was not in the habit of pandering to the sentiments of others, but he made an exception for the Supreme Leader.

“Not me,” Snoke said thoughtfully.  “No, someone else will sit on the throne, if only to maintain appearances.  This empire must be as legitimate as possible.  There must be a figurehead, someone the people will accept as a leader but who will still keep the systems in line.”

“Then who…” Hux knew exactly who.  He tried not to let anger boil up inside of him at the thought, knowing that Snoke would be able to sense his derision.  “Kylo Ren.”

“Mind your contempt, General.  Remember that you and Ren fight on the same side.  No, he is not fit for rule.  My Apprentice is too ill-tempered, too volatile.  While a fine warrior he may be, he does not have what it takes to control an empire.”

“Who else is there?”

Snoke said nothing in response.  As the silence grew deafening, General Hux realized the implications.

“Me,” he said, astounded by the realization.

“You.”

“Why, though?” Hux felt compelled to ask.  What right did he have to sit upon a throne?

“You are suited more than any other,” the Supreme Leader explained.  “You are authoritative, level-headed, and a born leader.  Above all, though, you are loyal to the ideals you represent.  There is no question of your allegiance.”

“This is all a bit overwhelming.”

“You are dismissed, General.  You have much to think about.”

“Thank you, Supreme Leader.”

***

In his own quarters, General Hux stared at his reflection in the refresher mirror.  Was the face staring back at him the visage of an emperor?  All in all, he found himself to be rather lacking when it came to a commanding appearance.  He had always considered himself a man with an authoritative presence, but now he questioned his previous observations.  What had once struck him as a stern countenance now seemed a bit gaunt and pallid.

Emperor Hux – an odd sentiment to be sure.  He tried saying it out loud.

“Emperor Hux.”

It sounded strange and foreign to his ears.  How could he be an emperor?  He didn’t know the first thing about ruling.  He may have been General of the First Order, but that was hardly the same thing.

Hux was born into military tradition.  It hadn’t been a conscious choice of his to pursue a career as an officer.  In fact, it had never been his choice at all.  However, he couldn’t imagine doing anything else with his life.  He was undeniably good at his job, and he enjoyed it thoroughly.  Ruling an empire, on the other hand…

It was going to be a big change, without question.  He was a soldier, not a politician.  The idea of commanding others was a familiar concept, but civilians were vastly different from military personnel.  Officers proved their merit, swore oaths, and had to live under constant scrutiny.  The same thing could not be said of imperial subjects.  There would be dissenters, rebels, and people who were bound to be generally displeased with the idea of following an emperor.  In his current field, insurgency from within had only ever once been a problem.

Anyway, he was getting ahead of himself.  It wasn’t a problem yet.  The war wasn’t over, and there was fighting to be done still.  If the Resistance was allowed to regain its former strength and numbers, there would be no empire to worry about.


	3. Sulfur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the beginning of the end for the Resistance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourself for a chemistry lesson.

The end of the war grew nearer still.  Reconnaissance units had managed to track down several Resistance outposts strewn about the galaxy, as well as the current location of their central base.  The last necessary bits of intelligence were being gathered, and strike plan was being devised, and the squadrons were preparing to fight.  If everything went according to strategy, the fighting would be quick.  The Resistance wouldn’t even know what hit it.

As everything fell into place, General Hux stood before the multitude of his subordinates at the First Order base.  He never would have admitted it aloud, but he was nervous.  The last time he had delivered a speech of such magnitude had been before the firing of the Starkiller superweapon.  Seeing as that had ended in disaster, he felt unsure of how rallying his speech would prove to be.

“We have once again reached a turning point in the fight against the New Republic,” he avowed to the sea of white armor and charcoal fabric in front of him.  When he had spoken to the crowd before, his speech had been full of fury.  This time, his tone was calm and even.  He spoke with the even-tempered cadence of a different kind of leader, passionate yet practical.

“Their terrorist cells, more commonly known as the Resistance, have hounded us for years, unrelenting and indifferent to the loss of life they have caused.  The blood of our people has been shed for the last time.  There is no escape from the just wrath of the First Order.

“I know I declared to you once before that the last day had dawned for the Republic,” he acknowledged, humanizing himself with the remembrance of past defeat.  “Today, however, we do not rely on a fallible weapon of mass destruction.  We rely on the loyalty and might of the First Order.  Today, we fight with our wits, with our strength, and with the knowledge that we are on the right side of history.  There is nowhere for them to run, and there is certainly nowhere left to hide.  Today, the First Order will deal its final blow.  Today, we will defeat the Republic.  Today, the New Galactic Empire will rise!”

The cheers were deafening.

General Hux surveyed the crowd with a satisfied smirk.  The speech had gone over even better than he had anticipated.  The stormtroopers’ faces were obscured by helmets, but he looked to the uncovered expressions of the officers for their reactions.  He saw stern masks of approval plastered across most of their faces as they clapped – an acceptable response.  One officer in particular caught his attention, though.

Among the ranks, there stood a Captain who wore a light gray uniform that looked newer than the rest.  Her face displayed something different.  Her eyes were narrowed in a look of steely determination, and she nodded emphatically as she applauded.

The units moved out in an orderly fashion, flocking to their designated star destroyers and troop transports.  All that was left to do was wait.

Hux boarded his flagship, eager for the attack to begin.  He wasted no time in reporting to the bridge, taking his place at the center of the room.  Realizing quickly that he was entirely too anxious to stand still, he began to pace up and down the walkway.  After what felt like an eternity spent waiting, the star destroyer embarked. 

“Making the jump to hyperspace,” a crew member announced.

Jumping to hyperspace always gave General Hux a strange feeling.  It was like a faint thrumming in his head.  It never struck him one way or the other as pleasant or not.  The sensation was entirely neutral, but odd and persistent nonetheless.  He never ceased to be amazed that he was still aware of it after all the time he had spent in hyperspace over the years.

“The Florrum team has almost reached the atmosphere,” a communications officer reported after the jump was completed.  “They’ve been engaged by Resistance X-wings.  TIE-fighters have been sent out to deal with the attackers.”

“Are our fighters outnumbered?” Hux asked.

“Yes, but just barely.  It’s nothing that the destroyers can’t handle.”

“Excellent.  Florrum is a sulfurous planet, is it not?” he wondered aloud.

“Yes, sir, the entire world is covered with sulfur deserts,” someone supplied.

“Just how flammable is sulfur?”

The same officer who knew about the deserts spoke up again.  “The flash point is approximately 207 degrees Celsius.”

“Interesting.  What about the engine of an X-wing?  How hot does that get?” Hux asked, pursuing a devilish train of thought.

“Almost 1000 degrees.”

“So a fighter crashing to the planet’s surface…”

“Fires, explosions, things like that.” The officer confirmed his thoughts. “Furthermore, when sulfur burns, it emits sulfur dioxide.”

“Sulfur dioxide.  Interesting.  What does that do?”

“It’s an extremely toxic gas, sir.  Very nasty stuff. It irritates the lungs and can cause suffocation.  It often leads to severe lung damage or death.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me about sulfur, officer?” Hux questioned, finding himself unusually enthusiastic about chemistry.

“Well,” the officer thought aloud, “it melts at 115.2 degrees Celsius.”

“Just how pertinent is this fact, officer?”

“Considering the circumstances, I would say it’s _very_ pertinent.  When sulfur melts, it can evolve into a gas known as hydrogen sulfide.  It’s very flammable, and in a high enough concentration, it can cause explosions.”

“Hmm, this battle should prove interesting… very interesting indeed.”


	4. Triumph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a new power in the galaxy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a super short chapter. It's mostly just to serve as a transition between First Order and New Galactic Empire. 
> 
> Also, I've been thinking about recording some podfics. I would probably start by recording a couple of the oneshots I've already posted, just to get into it. Would anyone be interested in listening to that?

The reports were flooding in in real time.  Communications officers were barking out mission updates left and right, and the bridge was abuzz with chatter.  Every commlink was in use.  The Resistance base on Florrum had been reduced to ash, the terrain a flowing mass of molten sulfur from the combined heat of crashed ships and the bombers that flew overhead.  Anything left alive on the planet’s surface was suffocated by the toxic sulfur dioxide. 

The jungles of Felucia had been set ablaze.  The few remaining forces there had been driven out of hiding and promptly shot down by awaiting star destroyers.  The empty buildings were raided and destroyed for good measure.

The Phorsa Gedd outpost was the easiest to destroy of all.  Hardly populated, it had been as simple as knocking out their communications and dropping a bomb.  The Resistance forces there were defeated before they realized they were being invaded.

It was almost _too_ easy to wipe them out.  General Hux regarded the results with some suspicion at first, refusing to believe the Resistance could be brought so effortlessly to an end.  Then, the casualty reports began to filter in, and the suspicion began to subside.  The assault on the Resistance had not been as painless as Hux initially believed. Countless troops had been lost.  That was the cost of fighting a war, he reminded himself.  Battles could not be won without the expenditure of lives.

The war wasn’t over yet, not entirely.  However, triumph was already in the hands of the First Order.  Over time, they tracked down the few remaining forces spread thin across the galaxy that hadn’t been on base at the time of the attacks.  One by one, they were picked off until nothing remained.  The Resistance had been crushed, and it had not been through the Force or the unveiling of a superweapon, but through sheer military might. 

The Republic could do nothing but submit.  It didn’t maintain an army, and it didn’t have the means to raise one up.  All of the willing fighters had long since defected to the Resistance.  _And all for nothing_ , Hux thought with amusement.  They had joined only to be crushed like so many ants underfoot.

In a matter of months, the First Order had won a decisive victory and cemented itself as the governing authority over the entire galaxy.  The New Galactic Empire had risen, and at its head was Armitage Hux.


	5. Authority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux seeks a way to gain the trust of the people. Snoke has an unpleasant solution in mind.

There were fifty million inhabited systems in the galaxy.  On those planets lived innumerable sentient lifeforms.   Every last one was now under the control of Emperor Hux and the New Galactic Empire.

Being Emperor was even more difficult that he had imagined, and Hux had no false assumptions about the job being easy.  Serving as emperor was a tremendous responsibility under any circumstances.  Filling the position in a brand new empire, barely established, was even more difficult.

“I sense your apprehension, Emperor,” said the hologram of Snoke.  Even though the Republic had been crushed, he still chose to conduct his business remotely rather than in person. 

“The people don’t accept me as a leader,” Hux confessed.

“They don’t respect your authority?”

“They do for now, but for how much longer?  They won’t tolerate the rule of someone they see as a dictator.”

“You must humanize yourself in their eyes,” Snoke advised.

“How do you suggest I do that?”

“Show the people that you have their interests at heart, regardless of whether or not you actually do.  If you want them to see you in a more positive light, perhaps you should make them think you’re one of them.”

“I’m not one of them.”  Hux spoke in complete seriousness.  He wasn’t like his subjects.  He had never known a life outside of military leadership.  How could he relate to the people when he didn’t even know what it was like to live outside of a constant state of warfare?

“They need not know that,” Snoke informed him.  “You must only make them believe.”

“I know exactly where to start,” Hux announced.  “Sending aid to war-ravaged villages is the perfect way to establish myself as a benevolent ruler.  The Empire will send food, water, medical aid, and supplies.”

“An excellent start indeed.  There is something more, though, that you must do. It will soften your public image before the people, to show them that you are capable of compassion.  Furthermore, by doing this you will be asserting the legitimacy of your reign and potentially ensuring your legacy.”

“I’ll do anything.”

“You must wed, Emperor Hux.”

“Marriage?” he asked incredulously. 

Hux had never intended to marry.  It wasn’t a part of the plan he had for his life.  Then again, neither was becoming Emperor of the New Galactic Empire.  Regardless, the idea was unpleasant to him.

His parents hadn’t been married.  Well, his father was married, but not to his mother.  What was the point of marriage, Hux wondered, if you still fucked the woman who worked in the kitchen?  As a result, Hux had gone through life with the title of bastard on his head.  In a world as steeped in tradition as the Imperial Academy, that had proved to be quite a problem.

“Yes, marriage.”

“To whom?” Hux wondered aloud.

“Even as you ask, you think of a name,” Snoke observed.

Snoke, as always, was correct.  Hux, however, was reluctant to admit it.  He had, indeed thought of someone in particular.  In a way, marrying Hux would be like a promotion – not in a conceited sense, but in reality.  Becoming Hux’s wife would mean becoming Queen of the Galactic Republic, and that was not a matter to be taken lightly.  Marrying for love was out of the question, meaning that Hux would opt instead for a strategic marriage.  Above all, it would have to be someone he could trust, someone capable.

“Someone did come to mind, but it was a foolish thought.”

“Was it?”

“Yes, quite.  I considered for a moment that perhaps the lieutenant I promoted… Well, as I said, it was foolish.”

“Perhaps not,” Snoke mused.  “A marriage within the First Order is a safe decision.  I’m certain that you would not promote anyone who was not worthy of the position, meaning that this individual must be trustworthy and accomplished.  Such a marriage could also give you closer insight into the affairs of your military now that you are not so directly involved.”

“It’s not feasible,” Hux asserted.  “It was merely along the line of thought that becoming the Queen or Empress or whatever else is, in a way, a sort of promotion.  The girl was just the first person who came to mind.”

“Who else, then?” Snoke asked.

Who else?  Hux seemed to forget the name of every woman he had ever met.  He could only think of the lieutenant – now a captain.  Surely there was someone else. 

“I can’t think of anyone,” he admitted.  “I can’t marry her, though.”

“Why not?”

Hux struggled at first to come up with a good explanation for his aversion before finally landing on something.  “She’s too young.”

“She is of age in law, thought, body, and action.  I sense your worry, Hux.  Your fear is that she will reject you.”

“That’s not true.” Hux felt himself becoming unreasonably embarrassed.  He refused to admit to himself that he was scared the girl would turn him down.  It remained a very real possibility, however.  She was terrified of him.  He thought back to the way she had trembled as she entered his office. “I’m not afraid.”

“Your thoughts deceive you,” Snoke observed.  “Search deeper within yourself.  There you’ll find the truth.”


	6. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux approaches one of his officers with an unusual request.

****

The New Republic did not have a solitary center of government.  The capital rotated from planet to planet on a regular basis, in the hopes of encouraging the feeling of more equal representation in the Senate.  However, the system proved to be very ineffectual.  With the constant movement, documents were lost, politicians grew tired of uprooting their lives, and corruption found its way through the cracks. 

One of the first decrees of the New Galactic Empire was to reestablish a capital on Coruscant.  It was from there that Hux reigned over his domain.  The next was to create a military hub from which the Imperial Military could operate.  When they were not policing the galaxy or stomping out resistance groups, the officers took up residence in the many enormous skyscrapers the towered over the planet’s surface.

Armitage Hux, Emperor of this New Empire, found himself standing nervously outside of one such residence, staring at the entrance to the apartment and willing himself to knock on the door.  Behind him stood two of the Royal Guards, who were clearly gleaning quite a bit of amusement from the situation.  Finally, Hux pulled himself up to full height and rapped his knuckles sharply against the door.

“Who is it?” a voice called from inside.

“General…” Hux began, forgetting his new title.  “No, wait, not General.  I’m not a General anymore.  Sorry, it’s the Emperor.  Emperor Hux.”

At the word _emperor_ the pneumatic door immediately slid open.

“Emperor Hux,” the girl squeaked in a nervous voice, “to what do I owe the honor?”

“Good afternoon, Captain (L/N),” Hux said in greeting.  “May I come in?”

“Of course.” She stepped out of the way of the door frame, allowing Hux to pass through.

“Wait in the corridor,” he instructed the Royal Guards, who heeded his orders.

“If I had known I was going to be visited by the Emperor, I would have cleaned up this place or at least put on nicer clothes.”

Hux said nothing, but he found the clothing she was wearing to be quite nice.  He had never seen her out of uniform before.

“I apologize for arriving without notice, but it’s still for the best if I travel without a set schedule unless I’m absolutely surrounded by guards, which I loathe.  I’m afraid I’m here for a very strange purpose, Captain (L/N).”

“I’m not in any sort of trouble with the Empire, am I sir… I mean, Your Excellency?” she asked.  “I’m sorry, what am I supposed to call you now?”

“’Your Excellency’ may be a bit over the top.  You can address me as before,” he informed her.  “No, you haven’t done anything wrong.  As I said, the reason for my visit is rather peculiar.”

“Just how peculiar?”

“I have a request to make of you,” Hux told her, unsure of how to phrase what he was about to say in a way that wasn’t completely ridiculous.  “You’re welcome to refuse it if you like.  You will receive no negative repercussions for declining.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to serve the Empire, sir.”

“You might want to wait until I’ve told you my request before you accept it.  This isn’t going to be a matter to be taken lightly.”

“What is it, sir?”

“I’ve been advised that it would be in my best interest to get married,” Hux explained, becoming increasingly more uncomfortable by the moment.  “It would help me cement my position as Emperor and help me appeal to the emotions of the Imperial subjects.  I have no interest in the idea, other than for its potential political merits.

“What I’m getting at, is that I have to marry someone, and the woman that I marry will become Queen.  Naturally, this would have to be someone whom I can trust and who understands the importance of oaths and secrecy.  It’s sort of like a promotion, in a roundabout sort of way.  I could also hope to gain a link to the military to stay up to date with the inner workings now that I am no longer a General.

“The marriage that I seek is one of strategy, and you were the first woman I thought of when considering someone capable and trustworthy.”

Hux paused and noticed that the girl looked as if she were going to faint, vomit, or possibly both.  Her face was flushed red with a combination of what seemed to be embarrassment and fear.  He braced himself for rejection.

“Are you asking me to marry you?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Yes, I am.  Don’t feel obligated to agree to this.  As I said before, you’re welcome to refuse.  I can give you time to think about this.  I’m not in any particular rush to get married.”

“If I married you,” she asked, “you said I would become Queen, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hypothetically, if we did get married, could I stay a captain instead?”

Hux was surprised by her request.  Not many would turn down such an opportunity for title and privilege.  “Yes, I suppose so, if that’s what you would prefer.”

Her voice was small when she spoke again.  “What about… um… What about sex?”

“What about it?”

“Would I… I mean, do you expect…”

In all honesty, that hadn’t been one of Hux’s considerations.  He hadn’t thought about sex, but now that she had brought it up, he found that he very much liked the idea of sharing a bed with her.  She was an attractive woman, and he began to realize that his reasoning for proposing to her might not have been entirely strategic.  Perhaps there was a more visceral motive as well.  So... what about sex?  He couldn’t tell her that she had to sleep with him.  That wouldn’t be right.  However, he didn’t want her to think that he was repelled by her or that the option wasn’t on the table.  He didn’t want to make her feel imposed upon, although he felt like he might have already crossed that line by proposing to her out of the blue.

“I’m certainly not opposed to the idea,” he told her, “but that isn’t at the top of my list of concerns.  This isn’t a marriage of emotion, but of politics.  As much as I enjoy sex, I have no expectations for you in this regard, and you shouldn’t, should we marry, feel obligated to do anything for me sexually.  If, however, we happen to develop a physical relationship, that would be fine with me.  Furthermore, in the event of marriage, I would not seek extramarital affairs, regardless of what our own circumstances of sexual contact may or may not be.”

“Would I be able to maintain my duties as Captain?” she inquired.

“Yes, should you wish to do so, that can be arranged.”

“Would I live with you?”

“Yes, you would move into the Imperial Palace,” he informed her.

“Do we have to sleep in the same bed?”

“It seems to me that separate sleeping accommodations could easily be arranged.”

“How would I address you?”

“You would be allowed to address me by my given name, so you could call me Armitage, if you so desired.”

“When would we get married?”

“That depends on when you hypothetically accept the offer.  It’s a lot to ask of you, I know.  You can take your time to think it over.  This is an enormous decision, and it would be a lifelong commitment.”

“I don’t need to think about it, sir.  I’ve already reached a decision,” she assured him.

“So soon?”

“I accept your proposal.  I’ll do anything to further the cause of the New Galactic Empire.”

He reminded her, “You don’t have to say yes.”

“I know that, sir, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”


	7. Anticipation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux prepares for a very important moment.

Hux stood in front of the mirror, carefully straightening his clothing.  After his transition from General to Emperor, Hux’s wardrobe had undergone very little change.  He had put away his First Order General’s garb, but the new clothing he typically wore in place of it was hardly any different.  After a life spent in uniform, the clothes he was accustomed to were clean-cut and utilitarian.  He had swapped his charcoal grays for a more solid black, but his day-to-day outfits were largely the same, with quite a strong resemblance to a General’s uniform without actually being one.

Now, he wore a dress uniform of sorts.  It wasn’t the one from his days as General.  It had been freshly tailored for the occasion, and it differed from First Order formalwear.  It was made with much finer material, and it reflected his position better.  The cut was more elegant, and the details more intricate.  It still bore all of his medals, though.  Even as Emperor, Hux was proud of his past accomplishments.  He hoped he could be just as proud of those he made in the future.

He smoothed his hair, ensuring that it would stay in place.  As he considered his reflection, he wondered if he was making the right decision.  He shook off the feeling, discounting it as a common case of pre-wedding jitters.  The weight of the realization that he was getting married had just begun to fully register in his mind.

It was a short engagement.  There was no point in prolonging it.  Captain (L/N) had agreed to marry him, and that was that.  They only waited as long as it took for the announcement of the Emperor’s engagement to spread and the wedding to be planned. 

Dignitaries and former supporters of the First Order flocked to Coruscant for the occasion.  The city-planet was packed with life forms from all over the galaxy who were eager to see the Imperial wedding.  No one could remember the last time an event of such magnitude had taken place.  It had been millennia since such an important figure had wed.

“You look like a fool,” a modulated voice spoke from behind Hux.

“You should treat me with more respect, Ren,” Hux sneered, brushing a piece of lint off of his shoulder.  “Need I remind you that I’m the Emperor?”

“Need I remind you that I have more power than you ever will, General?” the Knight of Ren replied.

Hux rolled his eyes and stepped away from the mirror.  He glanced to the shelf where he could have sworn he set the wedding ring he had commissioned an artisan to make.  To his surprise, the black, velvety box was gone.

“Give it back, Ren,” he said impatiently, knowing immediately where it had gone.  He turned to face the former Commander of the First Order, who was levitating the small ring box in the air, twirling it in circles.  “I’m not amused.”

“I’m very amused.”

“Must you make everything difficult?  I’m under enough stress without you making things worse.”

“You should lighten up, _Emperor_ ,” Kylo Ren said, his mischievous grin evident even beneath his mask.  “You’re getting married today, after all.  Shouldn’t you be more excited?”

Hux snatched the ring box out of the air, setting it back on the shelf where he had previously left it.  With a straight face and a bland tone, he replied, “I’m ecstatic.”

“It sounds like our esteemed Emperor Hux doesn’t want to get married,” Ren observed.  “I hope the blushing bride doesn’t find out.”

“She knows,” Hux stated bluntly.  “This is a marriage of strategy and convenience, Ren.  I have no illusions of romance.  This isn’t about love.  The girl has no stronger feelings for me than I do for her.”

“Well,” Ren noted, removing his mask, “then you should at least refrain from letting her know that you refer to her as _the girl_.  I have a feeling she wouldn’t like that much.  By the way, I never knew you had a thing for younger women.  You must have close to fifteen years on the Empress-to-be.”

“Believe me, her age was a concern of mine.”

“You’re almost old enough to be her father.”

“Hardly,” Hux scoffed.  The age difference wasn’t nearly that large.  “How old do you think I am?”

“Too old to marry a woman you call _the girl_.  Is it a thing about virgins?  Is that your deal?”

“My sex life is none of your concern.  Besides, we may not end up having a physical relationship at all.  I feel I should also point out that I have no knowledge of her past exploits.  I barely know the g…” He stopped himself before he said it again.  “I barely know Captain (L/N).”

“Do you even know her first name?” Ren inquired.

“Of course I do.  I’m marrying her.  It’s (Y/N).”

“Does she know yours?”

“Yes.”

“Well, knowing each other’s first names is a basis for a healthy, long-lasting relationship if I’ve ever heard of one.”

“What do you know about healthy, long-lasting relationships?  I’ve never seen you spend more than one night with a woman.”

“We were talking about you, not me,” Kylo Ren pointed out.  “I’m not the one marrying _the girl_.”

“Stop calling her that,” Hux intoned impatiently.

“They’re your words, not mine,” Ren reminded him.  “So, no physical relationship.  How are you going to manage that?”

“What do you mean?” Hux asked, once more obsessing over his reflection in the mirror.  He passively wondered if his bride was doing the same thing.

“Isn’t it going to be like torture to be married to and living with a woman who doesn’t want you to touch her?  I assume you’ll handle it like you did back when you were in the Academy.”  Ren made no attempt at subtlety with his double entendre. 

Hux frowned.  “She hasn’t explicitly stated that she wants this marriage to be platonic.  As I said before, though, I barely know her.  I doubt she’ll be comfortable with intimacy for quite some time.  I can’t pretend to know that she ever will be, either.  Will you stop that?” he demanded as he saw the ring box lift up from the shelf again.

Kylo Ren pulled the box over to himself using the Force.  “This is nice,” he remarked, looking at the ring inside.  “It must have been expensive.  Are you sure you aren’t in love with _the girl_ , Hux? This seems a bit ostentatious for a ‘marriage of convenience.’  Then again, I guess that the New Galactic Empress deserves nothing less.”

“Love has nothing to do with it,” Hux assured him, finally taking a break from the mirror and sitting down.  “You can have a marriage without love.”

“Yes, that worked so well for your parents.”

Hux clenched his jaw, and it was evident from Kylo Ren’s expression that he realized he might have taken things a bit too far.

“Tell me again about how your parents’ relationship was so wonderful, Ren,” Hux snapped.  “You were really all just one big happy family, weren’t you?”

“Fine, I relent.”

“Is that what you’re wearing to the wedding?” Hux asked, giving the Knight of Ren a onceover.  He was wearing the same black robes as usual.  His wardrobe had undergone even less change than Hux’s since the downfall of the Republic.

“I do have an image to maintain,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but could you maintain that image in a way that doesn’t make you look like you’re going to slaughter the wedding guests.”

“I was being facetious.  I had more formal robes tailored.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Tell me again why I have to be the best man.”

“Leader Snoke thought it would show solidarity.  It makes the regime look stronger if we appear close.”

“So we’re lying to the people,” Ren noted.

Hux explained, “This entire wedding is about lying to the people.  It makes me seem like a more relatable leader.”

“A supposed friendship with a Knight of Ren is supposed to make you more relatable?”

Hux shot back with a straight face, “I suppose it shows them that even I go through hardship.”

“Very funny,” Ren muttered, putting his mask back on.  His modulated voice filtered through the vocoder as he spoke again.  “Catch.”

With that, the ring box sailed across the room towards Hux, hitting him in the chest with a soft _thud_ and falling onto the floor as Kylo Ren exited the room.


	8. Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux gets married.

_Grand_ – that was really the best way to describe it.  It was truly a grand event.  Everyone was dressed in the most expensive finery they owned.  Massive banners bearing the insignia of the New Galactic Empire hung from balconies and rooftops across the city-planet of Coruscant.  The whole world proclaimed the might and splendor of the Emperor and his reign.

Countless subjects were gathered in an enormous courtyard, looking forward to a platform, upon which stood an officiant.  The din of chatter that filled the outdoor space was near deafening, due entirely to the sheer number of lifeforms that gathered there.  After the crowd had settled into their places, the officiant stepped to the front of the platform and spoke, his voice amplified across the courtyard.

“Please rise to show honor and respect to the Ruler of the New Galactic Empire.”

In response, the masses rose to their feet.  Hux tried to quell the feeling of anxiety that bubbled up in his stomach.  He had never stood before such a large crowd.  His addresses to the First Order had been on a massive scale, but that was nothing compared to this.  With all the confidence and authority he could muster, he began his walk down the seemingly endless aisle.  He could feel the innumerable eyes staring at him, and he knew they were watching him intently.

Hux thought back to the way his bootheels used to click on the durasteel floor of the Finalizer.  He lamented that his steps were now muffled by the thick crimson carpet that had been rolled out down the aisle.  Trying his best to keep it together, he decided to focus on the huge banner behind the platform that displayed the Imperial crest.  It was familiar to him – just a slightly tweaked version of the First Order emblem he knew so well.  Having a point of concentration really helped, and Hux reached the platform without making a fool of himself.  When he stepped up onto the stage, the officiant spoke again.

“I am pleased to announce to you for the first time the future Queen of the New Galactic Empire, Captain (Y/N) (L/N).”

Hux’s eyes darted to the end of the aisle.  She was really too far away to see properly, but he found that looking at her instead of the crowd helped settle his nerves.  When she got closer, he could see that she looked every bit as nervous as he felt.  He felt bad for her; she had even less experience in front of a crowd than he did.  He smiled at her in a show of solidarity, but she merely nodded her head in response.

She looked absolutely breathtaking, Hux observed.  Her gown was made of a deep red fabric with a lengthy train that flowed behind her.  It looked excellent against the black and red banners of the Empire.  

“You’re shaking,” he noted, taking her hands in his and whispering as she came to stand in front of him.  The train of her dress spilled down the steps of the platform.

“Sorry,” she whispered back.

“Are you okay?”

“Just nervous.”

“Me too,” he confessed quietly.  The assurance that he was also nervous seemed to calm her down a bit.

“Citizens of the New Galactic Empire,” the officiant announced, “we are gathered here today to bear witness to the matrimony of Emperor Hux and Captain (Y/N) (L/N).” 

He spoke at great length about the Emperor’s legacy and the serious commitment the couple was about to make to each other and to the empire.  Hux and the Captain exchanged uncomfortable glances throughout the ceremony until the officiant finally reached the part that mattered to them.

“Emperor Hux, please present the ring to Captain (L/N) and repeat after me.”

Kylo Ren held out the ring for Hux to take.  Although it was completely imperceptible to the crowd, Hux was very aware of the fact that the ring floated through the air in the last inch or so of space between his hand and Ren’s.  He couldn’t see the Knight’s face, but he knew that the man was smiling to himself beneath his mask.

Hux took the ring, gems glittering in the sunlight, and placed it on his bride’s hand before repeating after the officiant.  “I, Emperor Hux, Ruler of the New Galactic Empire, do hereby swear an oath of loyalty, to you, Captain (Y/N) (L/N), and to the Empire as a whole.  I promise to be loyal and upright.  I devote myself to you.  I vow to honor and respect you with the same zeal with which I uphold and execute the law of the Empire.  Only death may part us, and no living being may separate us.  This I swear to you.”

In a similar fashion, she took a ring, a simpler gold band handed to her by a woman Hux recognized as a lieutenant of the First Order, and nervously held it out in front of herself.  She was trembling so fiercely that Hux had to help her slide the ring onto his finger.

“I, Captain (Y/N) (L/N),” she said quietly, her voice wavering as she spoke, “do hereby swear an oath of loyalty, to you, Emperor Hux, and to the Empire as a whole.  I promise to be loyal and upright.  I devote myself to you.  I vow to honor and respect you with the same zeal with which I defend this Empire.  Only death may part us, and no living being may separate us.  This I swear to you.”

“Emperor Hux,” the officiant declared, “you may kiss your bride.”

Kissing the bride.  Hux had forgotten all about that part.  The citizens of the galaxy would surely look on with some confusion when it became obvious that Hux had never kissed this woman before.  She herself looked terrified at the prospect.

Nevertheless, he pulled her closer to himself and pressed his lips gently against hers.  It was a quick kiss, over in a second, but long enough.  When he pulled away, he could see that she was blushing furiously, quite obviously embarrassed by kissing Hux for the first time in front of a crowd of strangers.

“I now present to you, the Emperor and Empress of the New Galactic Empire.”

The throngs of living beings cheered uproariously as Hux and his bride walked down the aisle of the courtyard, now officially married.  The reception passed by in a blur, and Hux found himself in his chambers all alone with the girl.  There was only one thought passing through his mind:  what now?


	9. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and his bride are alone together.

Hux had to help the girl pull the train of her gown into his Imperial chambers.

“Does this come off somehow?” he asked, tugging at the silky material.

“What?” she asked, flustered.

“The train – does it come off somehow?” he repeated.  “It seems very inconvenient now that we’re indoors.  Do you think it comes off?”

“Oh,” she visibly relaxed.  “I thought you meant… Well, what I thought doesn’t matter.  No, sir, I don’t think it comes off.  I can change clothes, though.”

“I don’t think they’ve brought your belongings up yet,” Hux informed her. 

“I had some clothes in the room I got ready in this morning, but I don’t know my way around the palace.  I don’t think I could get back there if I tried.”

“And I don’t know which room you were in,” he admitted.

“I guess I’m stuck with the train, then.  So, what now?” she asked the question that Hux had been thinking but hadn’t voiced aloud.

“I don’t know.  I know what everyone expects us to do, but I don’t know what we’re actually supposed to do next.”

“Oh,” she blushed again. 

“I suppose we could just go to sleep,” Hux suggested.  “It’s still a bit early, but today has been rather tiring.”

“Are we supposed to sleep in the same bed?” she asked, her cheeks reddening even more.

“There’s only one bed here.”

“I can sleep in the floor or something.”

“I can’t in good conscience force my wife to sleep in the floor.  It’s a large bed.  There’s plenty of room for us to sleep together.”

“Sleep together?”

“I just mean sleep,” Hux clarified.  He was amazed at how much the topic of sex embarrassed her.  He could only draw one conclusion from that.  “I’m not on some sort of hell-bent mission to take your virginity, Captain (L/N).”

“I’m not,” she said defensively.

“Not what?”

“I’m not a virgin.  I’ve done it before.”

“Done it?  You mean you’ve had sex?”

“Yes.  I’ve slept with a man before.”

“Are you sure?” Hux asked, somewhat suspicious of her claim.

“Yes, I’m sure.  That’s not really the sort of thing a person is usually unsure of.”

“Really?  Because it seems to me like you can’t even say the word ‘sex’ without using some sort of euphemism in its place.”

“I can say it,” she insisted.

“Then say it right now.”

“I’ve… had sex.” She sounded incredibly uncomfortable with the words.

“Fine, fine, I suppose I believe you.  Regardless, my goal here isn’t to convince you to let me have my way with you.  I honestly don’t care about your sexual history one way or the other.”

“Have you?” she asked after a moment of silence.

“Have I had sex?” he asked for clarification.

“Yeah, have you?”

“Yes, I have.”

“How many times?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly.  “I haven’t been counting this whole time or anything.”

“Oh, I’ve only done it the once,” she admitted.  “It was right after I joined the First Order.”

“Wait.” That didn’t add up.  She had been just a teenager when she began her officer training.  That would have meant that the man she slept with was a superior officer, meaning that whoever it had been had broken both protocol and the law by having an improper sexual relationship with a subordinate and a minor.

“It wasn’t what you think,” she said quietly.  “He was in the stormtrooper program.  We were the same age, and he was still in training.”

“You fucked one of my stormtroopers?” Hux blurted out incredulously.  “That’s not allowed.  It was the one who defected, wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t.  Do you honestly think doing it once is enough to cause a stormtrooper to defect?”

“Right, sorry.  I suppose I got a bit carried away just then.  Still, I would like to point out that what you did was against protocol.”

“Am I in trouble?” she asked.  Hux was starting to get tired of the question.  She asked it almost every time they interacted. 

“No, the statute of limitations for disciplinary action ran out years ago, and what would I do about it now?  Do you think I’m going to punish you?”

“You could,” she said, and he realized that even now she was still afraid of him.  “You might.  I don’t know, but you’re the one in charge.”

Hux sighed with exasperation.  “You know I’m not your superior officer anymore, don’t you?”

“Yes, but now you’re the Emperor.”

“And you’re the Emperor’s wife.  You have power too.  It’s not quite the same, but your new position in life does come with certain privileges you weren’t afforded before.”

“So I’m not in trouble?”

“I’m not out to get you, you know.  I actually like you quite a bit.  This isn’t a love match by any means, but I wouldn’t have asked you to marry me if I hated you.”

“Oh.” That was all she said.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.  I’m not going to hurt you.  Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“No, stop that,” he ordered, a bit more authoritatively than he had intended.  “Stop calling me sir.  It’s making me uncomfortable.”

“Sorry.”

Hux raked his fingers through his hair, causing the carefully combed strands to fall out of place.  He was getting frustrated with her.  “You don’t have to apologize.  What can I do to make you stop being terrified of me?”

“I’m not terrified of you,” she said, her voice betraying her even as she spoke.

Hux took her hands in his and held them as he had during the ceremony.  He wasn’t entirely sure whether it was a gesture of goodwill or an attempt to stop her ceaseless trembling.  “Why are you scared of me?”

“I’ve seen the way you used to yell at officers who made mistakes.”

“I’m not going to yell at you, (Y/N).”

She squirmed a bit at the sound of him saying her name and pulled her hands away.  Hux couldn’t tell what the motivation behind her movement was, but he suspected it was discomfort with his attempt at familiarity. 

“I think I’d like to go to bed now,” she announced quietly.

“It’s right through here,” he informed her, gesturing to a door on the other side of the large room. 

Hux gathered up the train of her gown and carried it behind her as she followed his directions. Once they arrived in his bedroom, the two of them stood side by side in awkward silence. 

“I suppose you could wear something of mine since you have nothing to sleep in,” Hux suggested, if only to break the silence.

“There’s no need.  I forgot that I’m wearing a slip under my dress.  I can just wear that.”

“Oh, alright.  Do you want me to wait outside while you…” Hux cleared his throat.  He wasn’t quite able to say the word _undress_ , under the current circumstances.

“Yes, I think…” she began, and then changed her mind.  “Wait, no.  Can you stay?  I can’t get out of this dress on my own.  I’ll need help.  There are hooks all the way down the back, and I can’t reach them.”

“Of course.  I’d be happy to.”  Hux cringed internally at his poor choice of words.  He didn’t understand why he was so embarrassed that his wife might find out that he was attracted to her.

He moved the train out of the way and positioned himself behind her.  The hooks in question were tiny and expertly concealed, running all the way down her spine.  It took a great deal of dexterity to undo them.  One by one, though, he unhooked the clasps.  Little by little, the back of the gown pulled open, revealing an expanse of skin.  Hux thought optimistically that the unveiling might go on forever, but halfway down her back, he was greeted by the silky fabric of the slip she had mentioned.   When she was finally freed from the dress, she stepped out of it, allowing it to pool on the floor around her ankles.

“Thanks,” she said with embarrassment.  Her cheeks were tinged with pink, and she looked off towards some arbitrary point on the floor instead of at Hux.

Hux, on the other hand, couldn’t make himself look anywhere besides directly at her.  She was wearing a slip, yes, but it left less to his imagination than he had anticipated.  It fell almost to her knees, but it clung to the curves of her body.  While it was a plain garment, completely free of adornment, it was the same crimson red as the dress she had removed, and the neck plunged far below where that of her bridal gown had reached.

“You looked lovely today,” Hux said after some time had passed, realizing that he hadn’t paid her a single compliment throughout the day.

“Thank you,” she replied, tugging up the neckline of her slip, to no avail.  “You looked nice too.”

A slight smile played at Hux’s lips.  “I looked the same as always.”

“I suppose so,” the girl said thoughtfully.

“Does that mean you think that I always look nice?”

“I suppose so,” she repeated.  “You’re a good-looking man.”

“I think you’re quite beautiful yourself,” Hux confided, turning to leave the room.

She looked at him with surprise.  “Where are you going?”

“I thought I would give you some privacy.  You seem like you might want to be alone for a little while.”

She seemed to shrink back as she spoke again.  “Please don’t go.  I feel alone enough as it is.  Being by myself is the last thing I want right now.”

Hux pulled her trembling form into an inelegant embrace, hoping to bring her some comfort with his actions.  He was surprised to find that he himself found a great deal of comfort in the gesture.  Her body was warm and soft, and he was reluctant to let go of her until he realized that he had been holding her in his arms too long.  He was about to drop his arms from around her, when he felt her head rest against his chest.

After some time, her arms wrapped around him in a reciprocation of the embrace.

“Do you think we’ll ever be happy together?” she asked, her voice distant and full of concern.

“I hope so,” He replied, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.  He meant it, too.  As unpleasant as his attitude towards marriage was, Hux genuinely thought there was a chance that they might be happy.  They were a well-suited match, he believed, and he anticipated that they would grow closer as they got to know each other.  Yes, he thought they could be happy.

However, as he stood there holding her in his arms, he thought – if only for a fleeting second – that maybe they could be even more.


	10. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux wakes up in the middle of the night.

Hux awoke to a startled shout.  Instinctively, he scrambled to find the blaster that he stashed under the bed and scanned the dark room for danger.  He sighed with relief when he realized that the noise had come from his own bed.

“Sorry,” (Y/N) said, pulling up the comforter to cover her low neckline, despite the fact that Hux could barely see in the nearly nonexistent light.  “I didn’t mean to wake you up.  I just got a bit freaked out when I felt someone in bed next to me.”

Hux put away the blaster and rubbed his eyes, allowing his head to fall back against his pillow.  What time was it?  It had to be the middle of the night still.  He had almost drifted back off to sleep when she spoke again.

“That blaster – were you really going to shoot if you thought there was an intruder?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” he said, pulling himself up into a seated position and turning on a light.  If they were going to have a conversation, there was no point in holding it in complete darkness.  “It was more of an instinctual reaction than anything.”

“Have you always slept with a blaster under your bed?”

“Sometimes I keep it under the pillow.”

“Has anyone ever actually tried to attack you in your sleep?”

“No, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

She seemed to consider his words, and he watched her as she pondered.  Her hair was disheveled from sleeping, and one of the straps of her slip had fallen off of her shoulder.  The makeup she had been wearing at the wedding and hadn’t wiped off was smudged.  As messy as she looked, Hux found it all rather endearing.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked.  Hux hadn’t realized just how long he had been gazing at her.

“Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?”

“I’m not sure.  That depends on why you’re staring at me.”

“You’re intriguing.”

She bit her lip in thought.  “Is that a bad thing or a good thing?”

“Good.”

Her blush was difficult to see in the dim lighting, but it was definitely there.  “What’s so intriguing about me?”

“I hardly know anything about you.”

“Maye we should keep it like that.  That way, I’ll always be intriguing to you, and you won’t get bored of me.”

“What makes you think I’ll get bored of you?” he asked.

“What makes you think you won’t?”


	11. Observing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux tries to learn something about his wife.

When Hux awoke for a second time, he could see light filtering in through the large window that occupied an entire wall of the room.  The glow of daylight signaled to him that it was morning, and the shadow that blocked out part of it reminded him that he was not alone. 

The woman to whom he was now married was standing in front of the window with her back to him, unaware of the fact that he was no longer asleep.  Hux sat up but remained silent, not wanting to disturb the peace that filled the room.  He watched her quietly, like a scientist observing a particularly interesting specimen, although his interest was far from purely academic.  She was gazing intently out the window, taking in the view of the city, he presumed.  He was more engrossed with the view inside.

“You’re staring at me again,” she noted, not looking away from whatever had captured her attention outside.  “I can see your reflection in the window.”

Ah, so she hadn’t been watching something outside.  Maybe she had been at first, but her focus had turned to Hux at some point.

“That means you’ve been staring at me as well,” he pointed out.

“I could feel you looking at me.”

“That sounds like something Kylo Ren would say.”

“I don’t presume to be Force-sensitive, but I can tell when someone is ogling me.”

“I wasn’t ogling,” Hux explained.  “I was _observing_.”

“You were certainly doing your fair share of _observing_ last night when you helped me with my dress,” she snapped in reply.

“In that case, you’re not entirely innocent yourself.  I know you watched me undress last night.”

“No I didn’t.  Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re curious,” he told her matter-of-factly.  “You thought you might see something interesting. Well, did you?”

She thought for a moment and turned to face him. “You have a large scar on your back.”

“I have lots of scars in lots of places,” he said dismissively.  “I’m sure you can see several of them from where you’re standing.”

After he mentioned it, he saw her gaze flicker to his chest, where his skin was marked with pink stripes from past blaster wounds and combat injuries.  His eyes skimmed across her chest as well, but for very different reasons.

 “You look different than I expected,” she added nervously.

“How so?”

“I guess if you already know I was watching you, there’s no point in me being embarrassed to talk about it,” she said, more to herself than to him.  “You don’t look like I thought you would.  For one, there are the scars.  I didn’t expect that.”

“What else?”

“I thought you would be bigger.”

“Excuse me?” Her statement took him aback.  Just how much, _had_ she seen, exactly?

“I kind of expected you to be more… bulky, I guess.  You’re skinnier than I would have figured.  That’s kind of rude to say.  I’m sorry, General.  I mean, you look like you’re in very good shape, but-”

“It’s okay,” Hux said, cutting her off before she started blushing again.  He was relieved at the discovery that he and the girl hadn’t been on the same page in their discussion.  “I’m not offended.  You don’t have to worry so much about crossing some invisible line and making me angry.  You also don’t need to address me as General.  I’m not an officer anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, (Y/N).”

She made an odd face at the sound of her name that he wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret.

“Would you prefer it if I called you something else?” he asked.

“No, it just feels wrong for you to be calling me by my first name.  I know it’s not, but I can’t get over the feeling that it’s a breach of protocol.  You called me Captain (L/N) last night.  You’ve always called me that.  Well, you used to call me Lieutenant, but the idea is the same.  I’m just not sure I’m comfortable with this yet.”

“I’m not your superior officer anymore, (Y/N), and now your surname isn’t even (L/N).  I’m your husband.”

She made the face again.  “That feels even stranger to hear than my name.”

“It’s our reality now, though.  I’m your husband, and you’re my wife, and we’re married.  As odd as this all is, we’ll have to get used to it.  We’re both in this together.  We may not be in love, but it might be for the best if we can at least become friends.”

“You don’t want to be my friend.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you asked me to marry you.  People don’t use a proposal as a way to start a friendship.”

“You can resent me if you wish,” he informed her.  “That’s up to you.  We can be distant and uncomfortable around each other for the rest of our lives.  I would prefer for the two of us to at least be companionable, though.”

“Do you just expect us to become friends overnight?  We barely know each other.”

“You’re right.  Like anything, this will take time.  We could get to know each other, though.  Tell me something about yourself.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“I don’t know – anything.  What planet are you from?” Hux suggested.

She stared at him in silence for a moment, as if she was contemplating whether or not to tell him the truth.  Finally, she spoke.  “My family moved from planet to planet.  I never stayed in one place for long.  I’m not really sure which planet is my home world.  What about you?”

“Arkanis,” he said blandly.  He had never cared much for the planet.  There were next to no fond memories associated with it.

“You don’t sound like you enjoyed it much there.”

“I can’t say that I ever did.”

“Well,” she considered, “now we both have Coruscant, I suppose.  I’ve never been on one planet for more than a couple of years.  It’s an odd feeling.”

“What is?”

“Having a place to call home.”


	12. Shower

Hux carefully studied his reflection in the mirror as he slid the edge of his razor over his jawline.  The daily routine that he followed almost mindlessly at this point in his life brought him an odd sense of peace.  He liked to be in control, which was a feeling that translated into all areas of his life.  One such way he maintained control was in his appearance.  His meticulous grooming habits may have caused him to come off as a bit stiff and unapproachable, but that was just an added bonus, in his opinion.  He always used a straight razor, believing that it resulted in a much closer shave.  If there was anything that was of importance of Hux, it was precision.   

“Have you ever considered growing a beard?”

“Shit!” Hux cursed loudly in surprise at the sound of a female voice beside him, his hand slipping and the metal blade nicking his cheek.  He dropped his razor on the countertop, where it landed with a metallic clatter, and quickly pressed a towel to his face to stem the flow of blood droplets that immediately began pooling on the surface of his skin.

“I’m so sorry,” (Y/N) apologized profusely, rushing up to him and grabbing his arm.  “I’m so, so sorry!”

He grunted wordlessly in response.

“Here, let me see,” she instructed him, pulling his head down to eye level and pushing his hand with the towel away.  “I’m really sorry.  Do I need to call a medical droid?”

“I’ve cut myself shaving before,” Hux informed her irritably, feeling quite patronized by her actions.  “I don’t require medical attention.  What were you doing, anyway?”

“I just wanted to ask if I could use the shower.”

“You don’t have to ask me for permission.” He pulled his head away from her and stood back up to full height.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, dragging him back down by the shoulders to look at his face.

“Yes, I’m positive.  I’ve been shot on more than one occasion.  I think I can survive a razor nick.”

“Well, as long as you’re okay…”

“I am.  I really am.”

She let go of his shoulders and took a step back.  The two of them stood there in silence for a moment, just looking at each other.  Hux was pleased to see that she hadn’t yet taken off that slip he was growing so fond of. 

“So, is it alright if I use the refresher?”

“I was going to shower when I finished shaving, but you can go first, if you’d like,” Hux offered, gesturing to a frosted glass door which separated the part of the bathroom that contained the sink and vanity from the rest of the restroom amenities, for privacy he supposed.

“No, you can go first.  I’m sure you have a lot to do today.  I don’t want to make you late for anything.”

“Don’t worry about it.  I don’t have anything on my schedule today,” he informed her.

“I thought the Emperor would have important business to attend to.”

“Not on the day after his wedding, he doesn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” he explained, “everyone assumed that I would be a bit… preoccupied today.”

“Oh,” she blushed.  “I see.  Did you expect to be… um, preoccupied today as well?”

“No,” his expression softened.  Just a moment before, she had been holding him by the shoulders and caring about his wellbeing.  Now, she was acting afraid again. “I didn’t presume you would be very interested in having sex with a man you’ve previously only known as an authority figure.”

“Hmm.”

Her response was a complete non-answer that gave Hux a very odd feeling.  She neither agreed nor disagreed with his statement.

“Really, we have a whole day with nothing planned,” he pointed out.  “We could do almost anything you’d like.”

“The first thing I’d like to do is take a shower.”

“Be my guest.”

“I don’t have any clothes to put on when I get out,” she mentioned quietly.

“They should be bringing your things in sometime today,” Hux assured her.  “Someone really should have taken care of that already, but it’s out of my control.  You can put on something of mine in the meantime, though.  I don’t have anything that will fit you, but it will be something, at least.”

He scrounged up a pair of silky lounge pants not unlike the ones he was still wearing and a soft shirt.  She accepted them graciously and locked herself in the refresher.  Hux didn’t understand the purpose of locking the door.  Did she think he was going to barge in while she was bathing?

While she was showering, he finished shaving and selected his own clothing for the day, which bore a remarkable resemblance to the clothing he wore every other day.  It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of the water shutting off in the refresher.

“I feel ridiculous,” (Y/N) said as she exited the restroom in Hux’s clothes.  The pants and shirt were both much too long for her, and she nearly tripped on the pantlegs. 

“Really?  I think the outfit suits you.”

“I’m done with the shower.”

“I can tell,” he said, looking at her wet hair. 

“You can use it now, if you want.”

“Thanks.”

Hux stepped into the refresher and shut the door behind him.  He didn’t bother to lock it as she had.  There was no need, really.  The New Imperial Palace was quite possibly the best-guarded building in the galaxy, and the utmost priority of those guards was placed specifically on the Emperor.  Locking his doors wasn’t a necessity, not within his own rooms. 

One of the benefits of ruling the galaxy, Hux had come to discover, was having a shower with decent water pressure.  Most of his life’s previous time spent bathing was in an Imperial or First Order communal shower of some sort, usually on a military base or star destroyer.  Water consumption was limited in deep space, where planetary visits were needed to restock a ship’s water tanks.  Therefore, the force of water coming from the pipes had always left much to be desired. 

While he showered, Hux tried not to think about the woman who had just been standing in the exact spot that he now was.  He tried not to think about the way the water would have poured over her shoulders and down her body.  He tried not to think about that godforsaken slip that she had taken off and what she looked like underneath.  Furthermore, he tried not to think about what it would be like if she were in the shower with him at that very moment. 

He tried, and he failed miserably.

Once he finally realized it was no use to attempt to keep his mind off of her, he resigned himself to contemplate all the things he was trying to keep off of his mind.  He was quite lost in thought when he heard the telltale click of an opening door latch.  Instinctively, he grabbed a bottle of shampoo and brandished it like a weapon, ready to strike should someone endeavor to attack him.  He carefully, quietly opened the door of the shower and peered his head out.  He was equal parts relieved and mortified to see a familiar face looking back at him.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.  The sight of her in his clothes did nothing to take his mind off the thoughts upon which he had been dwelling.

“I…” She looked back and forth from him to the small bundle of fabric in her hands.  “I left this stuff in here.  I could still hear the water running, so I thought I would be able to grab it really quickly without bothering you.”

“Couldn’t you have waited until I was done?”

The expression on her face made it appear like the idea horrified her.  “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

He looked more closely at what she held in her hands.  It must have been the clothes she had taken off when she got in the shower.  There was really nothing else it could have been.  Realizing this, he then recognized the silky material of that slip, and the distinct presence of lace.  There hadn’t been any lace on that.  He knew it for a fact, having spent quite a bit of time staring at it the night before.  That left only one possibility.

“Why are you so embarrassed?” Hux asked her. 

“The goal was for you to not see my underwear.”

“You know, I assumed you wore underwear anyway.”

“Yes, but the standard First Order issued kind, not stuff like this.” She brushed her thumb across the black, lacy material.

Hux was beginning to lose his composure.  He became very aware of the face that he was completely unclothed and in the same room as the woman about whom he had just been fantasizing.  The combination of all of his current circumstances had caused him to feel a rather uncomfortable stiffness forming below his waist.

“Your face is really red,” she observed.  “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.” 

After that assurance and the awkward silence that followed, she finally left.  Hux was relieved when the door clicked shut.  He had a problem to which he very much needed to attend, and seeing as she would not be helping him with the ordeal, he would have to take care of it himself. 

When he was finished, he felt guilty.  What would the girl think of him if she knew he had gotten off to a fantasy of her when she had barely even left the room?  How would she feel if she found out that he fantasized about her at all?  She would surely feel even more disgusting and cheap than he did at the moment.  No matter what, he would still have to go out and face her.

And hope that she hadn’t heard what he was doing.


	13. Attracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux answers some uncomfortable questions.

“So what are we supposed to do all day?” (Y/N) asked, sitting on the corner of the bed and looking out the window.

“I don’t know,” Hux told her.  The idea of watching her gaze out over the city seemed quite appealing, though.  “There are lots of things to do on Coruscant. However, anything outside of the Imperial Palace currently requires an escort of Royal Guards.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she scoffed.  “I can defend myself.”

“I think it’s more for my sake than yours.  I’m not very popular among certain factions of the galaxy.”

“That’s even more ridiculous.  You can defend yourself better than I can.  Did everyone forget that you’re a General or something?”

“I don’t know how well I would be able to singlehandedly defend myself against a group of rogue freedom fighters.  Regardless, it is a bit of a hassle to constantly have guards following me around.”

“I think I’d rather stay inside,” she decided.  “What do you want to do?”

“Whatever you would prefer is fine with me.”

She watched the traffic flying by in the distance.  Speeders weren’t allow to fly within a certain radius of the palace without express Imperial permission, but further away, they could still be seen zinging by.  She sat like that in silence for quite some time, just observing the world out the window, until she abruptly turned to Hux and spoke.

“Do you think I’m attractive?”

“What?”

“Are you attracted to me?”

“Where is this coming from?”

“I guess it’s sort of a ‘Why me?’ question.  I mean, I know you asked me to marry you because you trust me and can use my position to maintain your ties to the military, but I think I just want to know if there’s more to it than that.  So… Are you?”

“Yes,” he admitted.  “I think I am.”

“You _think_ so? What does that mean?”

“I find you physically attractive, but I don’t feel that I know you well enough to pass any further judgment.  I suppose your work ethic is rather admirable, but that’s really the extent of your personality that I’ve grasped so far.  What I do know about you, I like.”

“Oh.”

“Was that a good oh or a bad oh?” Hux asked.  Her tone had been too neutral to tell.

“Good, I guess.”

Hux sat down on the mattress with her, keeping a respectable distance between the two of them.  She surprised him by scooting closer to him.  There was still a gap in between, but the gesture did not go unnoticed.  He resisted the urge to reach out and take her hand.

“What about you?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“The same question, but vice versa.”

“I feel kind of weird telling you this,” she said quietly, worrying the hem of her – actually Hux’s – shirt.  “I’ve always had a lot of respect for you, but not in the sort of way an officer should feel about a general.  It used to be kind of like a hero-worship thing.  I sort of thought you were perfect.”

“I’m not.”

“I know.  You’ve just always been so above reproach.  You’ve been the standard that I’ve held myself to for a really long time.”

“That’s…”

“A lot to swallow,” she finished for him.  “Yeah, I know.”

“You really thought I was perfect?”

“I didn’t mean for it to be an ego-stroking thing,” she grumbled good-naturedly.  “I obviously know you’re not perfect now.  You cut yourself shaving, you’re absolutely full of yourself, you masturbate in the shower, you…”

“What?”  Had Hux’s worry caused his mind to warp her words, or had she really said what he heard?

“I said that I know you’re not perfect now.”

“No, that last thing!”

“The one about masturbating?”

“Yes, that.”

“What about it?”

“How did you…” he began, then stopped, realizing just how self-incriminating it would be to ask how she knew.  “Where did you get an idea like that?”

“I was standing at the sink while you finished your shower, and I could sort of hear you,” she explained, color rising in her cheeks.

“Was it loud?” He was absolutely mortified.

“You weren’t, like, _moaning_ or anything, but I could hear a noise kind of like this.” She made a fist with one hand struck it against the open palm of the other a few times.  “That shower is really echo-y.”

“I’m so sorry.”  He meant it, too.  He felt it was possible that he had never been sorrier about anything in his life.  “This isn’t a regular habit of mine, I swear.”

“Wait, you mean you don’t masturbate?” she asked, sounding genuinely intrigued.  “I don’t believe that.”

“I do, but not often.”

“And by that you mean…”

“I... Could we please not discuss this?” he said, very uncomfortable with the idea of discussing his self-pleasuring habits with a woman he barely knew on a nonprofessional basis.

“Was it because I barged in while you were taking a shower?” she asked guiltily. 

“Well, yes, partially.  There were some other factors involved as well.  Really, I would prefer it if we dropped the subject.”

“Sorry, sir.”

He sighed.  “Please don’t call me sir.”

“Sorry, um…”

“You can call me Armitage.”

“Armitage,” she repeated, trying it out.  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call you that.”

“That’s because I prefer for others not to address me by my first name.”

“Why not?”

“Professionalism, for one,” Hux explained.  “Another reason is that I’ve had some sort of title or another for most of my life – Emperor Hux, General Hux, all the way back to the days when I was just Cadet Hux.  Then the third and most significant of my reasons is that I absolutely loathe the name Armitage.”

“Hmm, why’s that?”

“It’s an unusual name.”

“It’s a big galaxy,” she mused.  “There are stranger names.”

“Yes, but how many children have you met named Armitage.  It’s a stuffy, formal name that parents give to children they hate.  It can’t even be shortened to anything better.”

“Then why do you want me to call you that?”

“Because I don’t want you to call me sir.”

“I like the name Armitage,” she decided.  “I think it suits you.”

“You think I’m stuffy and formal?”

“Well,” she blushed.  She was always blushing, wasn’t she? “Yes, sort of.  Not in a bad way or anything.  You’re just kind of… austere.”

“Austere?”

“Yeah, austere.  Like, you have an intimidating personality, I guess.”

“What can I do to make you stop fearing me, (Y/N)?” Hux asked.  “Why are you so scared?”

She didn’t answer him.  Before, he had desired to reach out and take her hand, but he had fought off the temptation.  Now, he found himself to be much more weak-willed.  Hesitantly, he slid closer to her, bridging the gap that separated them, and intertwined his fingers with hers.  He could tell that she was startled by his touch, but she made no move to stop him.

It was such an innocent touch, a pure interaction all around, and yet her hands were trembling.  She always seemed to quake in his presence.  What was it about him that intimidated her so much, and how could he fix it?  That was all he wanted – to fix it.  He wanted her to stop fearing him, to be comfortable around him, to lo…

No, not to love him.  That was asking too much of her.  It had never been about that. 

 _But couldn’t it be?_ asked a nagging voice in the back of his mind.  _Couldn’t it be about that?  Couldn’t you love her?  Couldn’t she love you?  Couldn’t it all be perfect?_

Well, couldn’t it?


	14. Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux shares a moment with his wife, but even the best moments can't last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! This is going to be a long chapter note, so I'm sorry about that. 
> 
> I know it's been like two whole months since I've updated, but I had to take an unexpected hiatus from writing to deal with some stuff going on in my life. I've had a particularly difficult semester at college taking upper-level math courses and ultimately making the decision to change my major from math education to English education. I've also been dealing with a problem called cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS). Essentially, when a trigger sets off CVS, it leads to bouts of vomiting that last for about 10 days. Luckily, I don't feel sick at all besides the vomiting. Not-so-luckily, the thing main thing that triggers it for me is stress, which I have had a lot of recently. With all of these things compounded together, I haven't had a lot of time to work on fics as much as I would like to (which is to say, at all). 
> 
> I apologize for disappearing for two whole months, but I'm back now, maybe not in full swing like before, but there should be fairly regular updates for at least a while. Thanks for all your patience and understanding.

They sat like that for some time.  Hux found himself unusually at ease holding her hand.  He looked down at his hand and the smaller, more feminine one it was clasping, and marveled at how natural the whole situation felt.  Everything about having his fingers intertwined with hers felt right.  Her hands weren’t soft like those of so many of the women he had been with in the past were.  They were the hands of a soldier, and as a former man of rank, he could appreciate that.  He knew what those hands were capable of – they could take down a man in combat, handle a blaster, pilot a fighter, and carry out a number of equally deadly tasks.  

“Armitage,” she mumbled quietly, so quietly that Hux realized that he was not intended to hear.  Not wanting to disturb the moment of peace, he said nothing in response.

That invasive thought began to creep its way into his head again:  could this be more than just an arrangement?  Hux hadn’t thought that he wanted anything beyond a practically-chosen partner to cement his position of authority, but he was beginning to have second thoughts.  The more he considered it, the more he realized that, deep down, there was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to fall in love with this woman.  Hux had never been in a meaningful romantic relationship.  His interactions had always been shallow and fleeting.  Nothing lasted very long, and he never made an attempt to change that.  Now, though, he had already made a lifelong commitment.  Wouldn’t it be a waste not to at least make an effort to enjoy it?

As he thought, Hux gently brushed his thumb against the back of the girl’s hand.  He longed to experience more moments like this.  He wanted things to be this serene for the rest of his life.  As the New Galactic Emperor, though, he knew that his life was never going to be peaceful, no matter how many tender moments he shared with the woman he had married.  Still, he enjoyed the feeling while it lasted.

At risk of ruining their sweet interaction, Hux placed his free hand on her cheek and leaned in to kiss her.  She reacted abruptly, immediately letting go of his hand and pulling away.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly, holding his hands up in front of him to show that he meant no harm.  “I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds.” 

She stared at him wide-eyed.

“I’m really sorry,” Hux repeated.

“It’s okay,” she said quietly another moment of silence, looking down at the floor as she spoke.  “I just wasn’t expecting that."

“I shouldn’t have just expected you to-“

“I’m not angry.  I just thought…”  She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, and Hux waited patiently for her to speak.  “You said that this was a strategic marriage, that it was to legitimize your power as Emperor and maintain your military connection.  You told me from the beginning that this wasn’t about a relationship and not to expect that.  You said you wanted to be my friend.  I’m not sure what kind of friendships you’re used to having, but based on my experiences, this isn’t how friends behave.”

“I’m sor-“

“No, stop apologizing!” she ordered.  “I’m trying to say something!”

Silence fell as they both realized the weight of what she had just done.   He could see the expression on her face change as it registered that she had just yelled at the most powerful man in the entire galaxy.  A smile played on his lips.  He wasn’t angry with her.  In fact, he was proud of her for having the guts to put him in his place.

“Well, then, say what needs saying.”

She took a deep breath, clearly relieved that he wasn’t going to reprimand her for insubordination.  “I don’t know what you want me to be.  You wanted me to be a Captain of the First Order.  Fine.  I accepted the promotion.  You wanted me to marry you for political reasons.  Sure, I’ll do anything to help support the Empire I fought to build.  Now, you’re asking to be my friend, but you also very obviously have some not-so-friendly feelings towards me.”

“Is there a point to all this?”

Hux hated to admit to himself that he found this new confidence to be rather alluring, and he wasn’t at all opposed to the idea of her ordering him around.

“Oh, there most definitely is.  It all comes down to one question,” her voice became lower, almost sultry, as she looked him directly in the eyes and spoke. “So, Armitage, do you want to be my friend or not?”

She placed a hand on his knee and scooted closer, and despite his rapidly accelerating heart rate, he managed to keep his voice from wavering as he spoke. “Absolutely not.”

With a wicked grin unlike anything he had seen on her face in the past, she narrowed her eyes and said, “I was hoping you would say that.”


	15. Learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lesson in trust... among other things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't gotten a chance to see The Last Jedi yet. I almost bought opening night tickets, but I had to work and take a final exam the next day, so I decided that was probably a bad idea. I'm going to see it tomorrow afternoon, though!

This time, she was the one who leaned in to kiss him, and he was more than happy to oblige her.  This wasn’t a quick peck on the lips like the kiss at their wedding the day before had been.  That had been utterly forgettable, over as quickly as it had begun.  No, this time it was real.  Her lips on his and his on hers with real meaning behind all of it.  This wasn’t a formality meant to trick an audience in to believing they were in love.  While it may not have been about love, this was certainly no trick. 

Soon enough, it would have been tragically incorrect to call what was happening a mere kiss.  Hands were roaming, tongues exploring, heartbeats accelerating.  Suddenly, fingers were undoing the front of Hux’s pants.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said, grabbing her hands to halt her actions.  “I’m not asking you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.  You don’t owe me this or anything else.”

“I want to do this,” she said, her hands fumbling, shaking. 

“You clearly don’t.  You look like you’re about to vomit.”

“You don’t know what I want.”

“No,” Hux said with a shake of his head, “but the look on your face tells me that you’re terrified of what might happen after you finish what you’ve just started.”

“I’m not afraid.” Her voice wavered.  “Why would I be afraid?”

“Because you don’t trust me,” he told her quietly, his mouth close to her ear.  “Not yet.  You think you need to prove yourself to me, that you’re worth my time.  You want to show me that you have value to me beyond just as a political tool.  You think that if you give me this, then you won’t be expendable.  And because you think you’re expendable now, you don’t trust me.  There’s always that chance that I’ll get tired of you or decide you aren’t good enough, and then I’ll get rid of you.  Do you know what I have to say about that?”

“No.” She shook her head, terrified to hear him voice her innermost fears aloud. “What?”

“You shouldn’t consider yourself so lucky,” he smiled, gently kissing the crook of her neck.  “You’re stuck with me.  We took an oath.  ‘Only death may part us, and no living being may separate us.’  I’ll have you know that I’ve taken a great many oaths in my life, and I have pristine record for upholding them.  I don’t make promises that I don’t intend to keep.”

“That makes two of us, then.”

“I know.  That’s why I chose you. You’ve always been reliable and true to your word.”

“Hmm.”

“You can trust me,” Hux assured her.  He wanted her to stop being afraid, to be comfortable around him.  “I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.  I swore to protect you before I ever even met you.”

“How so?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“When I became a General, I had to take an oath.”  From memory, he recited, “‘I, Armitage Hux, officer of the First Order, do hereby swear to serve with honor and bravery.  I take upon myself the responsibilities of a General and leave the ways of the past behind me.  I will conduct myself with dignity and defend with strength.  I will lead with a level head and a strong hand.  I pledge my loyalty to the First Order and all those in its ranks.  I will command them, stand up for them, and protect them.  If the First Order should fall, then I shall fall with it.  If it should succeed, then I shall celebrate.  In victory and in defeat, I will remain true to the Order.  This I swear on my life and my honor.’”

“I want to do this,” she said once more, her hands roaming back to where his pants were fastened.  She succeeded in undoing the fly somewhat clumsily, but she succeeded nonetheless.  With a nervous deep breath, she pulled out his cock.

Hux had mixed feelings upon realizing that she looked intimidated.  On one hand, seeing her eyes widen at the sight of him proved to be an excellent boost to his confidence, but it also caused guilt to well up in the pit of his stomach.  He hadn’t done anything in particular for which he should feel guilty, but something about the fear in her eyes caused him to tense up.

“You don’t have to,” he reminded her one more time as she dropped to her knees in front of him.  That wasn’t quite what he had in mind.  “This shouldn’t be about me.  There are lots of things we could do instead that would be good for you too.”

“I want to do this,” she repeated again, this time more forcefully.  “Just let me.  Okay?”

She looked into his eyes, pleading with him.  He nodded, not breaking eye contact.

Experimentally, she trailed her thumb up and down his shaft.  Hux turned his head to the side.  He couldn’t look at her – not while she was doing _that._   Gaining confidence, she wrapped her whole hand around him.  She watched with rapt attention as his cock hardened before her eyes.  Soon, she was tugging and stroking and palming and pumping and rubbing and _oh!_ Suddenly her tongue was involved, licking a wet stripe up his length.  She took him into her mouth, licking and sucking in a way that was making it progressively harder for Hux to maintain his composure.

It became evident to Hux at some point that the girl had absolutely no idea what she was doing.  Her actions were clumsy – sloppy even, and she always hesitated before moving from one thing to the next.  He had no complaints, however.  Whatever she lacked in skill, she made up for in enthusiasm.  Her erratic patterns and inconsistent actions lent themselves to a delicious unpredictability that kept him constantly guessing as to what would come next. 

“Shit!” he hissed when she reached up to stroke his shaft while she sucked on the head of his cock.

She immediately stopped.  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked with obvious concern.

“No,” Hux groaned.  “You’re doing an amazing job,” he assured her.  "I’m just… I’m getting close.”

“You’re… huh?” Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed as she realized what he meant.  Her innocence astounded him. “Oh!”

“You can stop if you want to,” Hux informed her, his breathing ragged.

“Why would I stop?”

“I doubt that you want me to cum in your mouth or on your face,” he said very bluntly.

Her blush deepened, and Hux was amazed that the thought of him ejaculating in her mouth was more embarrassing to her than the actual act of giving head.

“Um, no, it’s okay,” she told him, looking down at the floor.  “You can do that if you want.  I’m open to it.”

Hux was quite surprised at her response.  It was quite the opposite of the reply he had expected.

“Oh, alright then.”

With that, she resumed her ministrations, sucking and stroking as his breathing became more erratic.  Hux caressed her cheek with one hand and tangled the other in her hair – not to guide her actions or make her take him deeper, but to establish some kind of contact beyond just his cock in her mouth.  She was drawing him closer and closer to the edge.  Finally, with a strained groan, Hux came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's definitely going to be follow-up on what just happened in the next chapter. This little encounter isn't over quite yet.


	16. Next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Hux's latest encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw TLJ today, and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it (particularly about our dear general). I've already started working on a very spoiler-heavy oneshot about Hux to help myself deal with the majesty of The Last Jedi.

She looked up at Hux expectantly, as if she were waiting for him to tell her what to do next.  There was a question in her expression, but he wasn’t quite sure what that question was.

“You don’t have to swallow,” he informed her, still in somewhat of a daze from his climax, the reason for her questioning look finally dawning on him.  “You can just spit it out.”

She glanced around the room and then back at him, the inquiry still plain on her face.  Hux realized that the silent question she was asking was _where?_   His eyes followed the same path hers had, and he drew the same conclusion she clearly had that there was no convenient place to spit out a mouthful of semen.

“Um…” he thought for a moment, cupped his hands, and held them out in front of her face with a frown.  He didn’t know what to do.  Every other woman he had been with in the past swallowed.  He wasn’t sure how to deal with what came next when she didn’t.  The thought entered his mind that he had never verbally laid the options out on the table before, so it had never really been a problem.  Then, he mentally scolded himself for thinking of other women he had fucked immediately after he had received oral sex from his wife.

There was a look of disgust on her face as she looked at his hands and then back up at his face.

“Well, what else are you going to do?” he pointed out somewhat impatiently.

She grimaced before spitting out the contents of her mouth into his hands.  Hux looked at the sticky white substance in his hands and found the situation equal parts sordid and humorous.  He found it difficult to suppress his amusement and was soon laughing out loud at the whole state of affairs.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes crinkling as he laughed.  “I’m not laughing at you.  It’s just…”

His apology was cut short when he looked down at her and saw that she was covering her mouth and giggling quietly.  He had never seen her laugh before, and he discovered that he very much enjoyed it.  He liked the way her eyes lit up and how happy she looked.  He was glad that she finally felt comfortable enough around him to laugh. 

Then, he was somewhat startled that _he_ felt comfortable enough around _her_ to laugh.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had really laughed.  He certainly hadn’t done it in front of anyone else, not in years.  What was this girl doing to him?

“I’m, uh, going to go wash my hands,” he announced as their laughter died down. 

When Hux returned from the refresher, he smiled at the sight of his wife sitting on the bed looking out the window.  He watched her silently from the doorway, and marveled at the fact that just admiring her from the other side of the room somehow felt more intimate than the sexual encounter they had just had.

“You know, earlier this morning, I doubted that we could ever be friends,” she said to him, still looking out the window that spanned the entire wall.  She had quite a knack for sensing when he was watching her.  “I think I was right.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.” She turned to look at him.  “Besides, I like this way better than being your friend.”

“Really?”

That wicked grin was back again.  “It’s a lot more fun.”

“And it can only get better from here,” he reminded her, his eyes darkening with the prospect of what was to come. He sat down next to her on the bed and kissed her jawline.  “I think it’s my turn now.”


	17. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If two people are going to spend the rest of their lives together, they should know something about each other, shouldn't they?

“Maybe not,” she said quietly, pulling away slightly.  “I’m not sure I want to do that – not yet, at least.”

“That’s perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.  Was she afraid of disappointing him?

“Yes, I’m sure,” Hux told her.  “There’s no rush.  I just thought it might be nice to return the favor.”

“No one’s ever, um… It would be the first time for me to do _that_ , so I don’t think that I’m quite...”

“I understand.  We don’t have to.  There’s no deadline for this.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, scooting closer to him.  “You know, you’re a lot different than what I always thought.  You have feelings, and you aren’t selfish, and you haven’t made me do anything I don’t feel comfortable with.  You’re actually really nice and understanding.  I never saw that part of you before.  You always seemed kind of scary, to be honest.”

“Well,” Hux admitted, “I never did anything to make you think otherwise.”

Hux knew what he was.  He knew how people saw him.  In fact, he had always encouraged their opinions of him.  It was easier to command when he was feared.  Only now was he seeing how that affected people.  With this girl, he was truly worried about someone being afraid of him for the first time in his life.

“I really, genuinely like you,” she said.  “I didn’t realize that I would.  I know we’ve only been married for a day, but my hopes about this marriage are a lot higher today than they were yesterday.”

“I want you to be happy,” Hux told her very seriously.  “I know that sounds ingenuine, but I do.  I don’t want you to be miserable for the rest of your life because you agreed to marry me.  If we’re both in this together, we should make the most of it and try to have a fulfilling relationship, shouldn’t we?”

“Yeah, I think we should.”

There was a long moment of silence in which neither Hux nor the girl seemed able to think of anything intelligent to say.  They sat quietly for some time before Hux cleared his throat and awkwardly broke the silence.

“So, do you still want to explore the premises?” He asked.

“Not really,” she said with an apologetic smile.  “I would rather stay in here, I think.  Would it be okay if we just talked?”

“That sounds reasonable.  What do you want to talk about?”

“I’d like to get to know you better.  We hardly know anything about each other.  So far, we’ve established that you’re from Arkanis, and I didn’t really have a home planet.”

“What do you want to know about me?”

“Well, everything,” she said with a grin, “but for now I’ll settle for a few basics.  Hmm… Oh, I’ve got one.  If you never became General, what do you think you would have done with your life?”

“I suppose I would have been a commander or admiral instead.”

“I’m not sure you understood the question,” she frowned.

“Oh, I understood perfectly well.  There was just never a different option for me.  It wasn’t my choice to pursue a military career, it was my father’s.  By the time I had any say in the matter, it was to late for me to choose anything else.  It would have been a complete waste to walk away from what I spent my entire life training for.”

She seemed shocked by the answer.  “I never would have guessed that.”

“I enjoyed command, and I was good at it.  I was rarely unhappy with my position.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t your choice.”

“I’ve considered this in the past,” he confided in her.  He had never shared his thoughts on the matter with another person before.  “No matter how I imagine things, I always end up in the same place.  I always end up at the head of the First Order.”

“So, if you were always meant to be a military man, what was your childhood like?”

Childhood?  What childhood?  Hux flinched at the question.  What was he supposed to tell her?  He preferred not to relive the past.  The past had never brought him anything but pain.  He was forced into military training by his heavy-handed father.  How would he explain the narrative behind that in a way that didn’t make her pity him.

“Lonely.” That was the answer he eventually decided upon.  “Not particularly enjoyable.”

“Oh.”

“Hmm.”  He was surprised to hear himself mumble out that wordless non-answer that she was so prone to using.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“What about you?” he asked, not wanting to dwell on the topic any longer. 

“Um, well,” she paused to think for a moment.  It was like the time he had asked her what planet she had grown up on.  He was given the distinct impression that she was debating whether or not to tell him the truth.  “It was alright, I guess.  There were some good times, and some bad times.  Like I said, my family moved around from place to place.  It was hard to make friends like that, so I think I kind of understand what you mean by lonely.”

Did she, though?  Did she understand?

“Well, at least neither one of us has to be lonely anymore.  We might not know each other very well yet, but at least we’re here together, right?”

Maybe it was best to just leave it at that.


	18. Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes even uncomfortable matters need to be discussed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2018!

Things were different when they went to bed that night.  Hux was very aware of the fact that the girl was much closer to him than she was the night before.  He was also somewhat disappointed by the fact that she was not wearing the slip anymore.  Someone had brought her belongings by during the day, so she lay next to him in black long sleeves and long pants – standard issue from the First Order.  All in all, he found this sleepwear to be much less alluring.  That did nothing to diminish the overwhelming desire he felt, but he thought it best not to mention the fact to her.

“Hey.” She turned over onto her side to look at him.  “Earlier today when I… Um, you know when I did that thing?”

Apparently she still couldn’t find the courage to actually describe or in any way discuss sexual matters.  It was beginning to grow a bit tiring for Hux. 

“Yes, I understand what you’re saying.”  He looked up at the ceiling as he spoke.

“Alright, good.  When I did that, was it okay?”

“Well, I, er…” He found himself unusually flustered by the question.  “It was very… enjoyable.”

He cringed at his own choice of wording.  _Enjoyable?_   He made it sound like a business transaction. 

“Oh, well, that’s good,” she blushed profusely, and Hux was sure that his cheeks were just as pink as hers.  “That’s not exactly what I meant, though.  Like, is it okay that I did that?”

“I have no complaints.”

“So it wasn’t weird?  Things aren’t weird between us now?”

“Should they be?” he inquired, glancing over at her.

“Well, I just thought that because we don’t know each other very well, and we’ve only been married for a day…”

“I don’t think there’s generally much discourse about how long into a marriage you should wait before engaging in sexual conduct.  I doubt that performing oral sex on your husband the day after getting married will spark much of a cultural controversy.  Besides, our entire marriage is far from the norm as it is.  You’re fine.”

“Okay, so,” she looked at the ceiling, the wall – anywhere but at his face, “would it make things weird if I did it again?”

“Do you want to?”

“Yes,” she said quietly.

“Why would you not just ask, then? Were you too afraid?”

“Maybe.”

“Why?”

“I thought you might say no,” she explained, “and then it would be embarrassing because I… Well, it would make me seem desperate.”

 “I think we might need to discuss some things,” he said pointedly, sitting up.  “First of all, you don’t need to be embarrassed about sex.  I’m not going to think less of you because you express any sort of desire.  You act like it’s abnormal for you to want to have sexual experiences, but it’s not.

“As for the situation at hand, I’m very unlikely to turn down your advances.  If you ask me, chances are extremely high that I will say yes.  If I do say no, don’t take it personally.  It doesn’t make you desperate to want sex, (Y/N), and nothing could make you seem desperate to a man who showed up at your door one day and asked you to marry him simply because he needed a wife.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you need to apologize for.  Surely you know by now that I want you.”

“I know.”

“So why are you afraid?” he asked.

“Because I lied before,” she blurted out.

“What about?”

“When I said that I had slept with that stormtrooper.  I didn’t.  Well, I sort of did.”  
“What do you mean?”  He wasn’t following her train of thought.

“I’m not sure I really had sex.”

“How are you unsure?”  He specifically recalled her saying that wasn’t something people were generally unsure about.

“Well, we started to do it.  He was… inside of me and all, but it was awful, and I just told him to stop because I couldn’t take it anymore.  I ended it pretty quickly, so neither one of us, um…”

“It’s unimportant, (Y/N),” Hux asserted.  “You’ve done what you’ve done, you haven’t done what you haven’t done, and there’s no need to dwell on what it was or wasn’t.  It doesn’t matter to me one way or another.  I’ve told you this.”

“I wanted it, but I was too afraid to go through with it.  I’m worried that when we eventually get around to doing something, I’ll be too scared again.”

“You’re not obligated to do anything at all.”

“I know, but I really do want to.  It’s not that idea doesn’t appeal to me.  I want to try eventually.  I’m just afraid that it’s going to be as bad as it was before.

 “Do you want to try right now?” he asked her.  Hux wasn’t optimistic.  He felt like he was pushing his luck by propositioning her for sex right after hearing her talk about how terrified she was of intercourse.  “It’s a yes or no question.  If you say no, I’ll drop the subject until you feel comfortable talking about it.  If you say yes, I promise that I won’t hurt you and that I’ll make it as good for you as possible.”

“No,” she decided quietly.  “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” He kissed her on the forehead and then lay back down.  “Good night.”

“Good night.”


	19. Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day dawns in the New Galactic Empire.

When Hux awoke in the morning, he was quite surprised to find that the girl had nestled up against him in her sleep.  Even more surprising, though, was the fact that he had apparently wrapped his arm around her.  The pair was snuggled together quite comfortable, and Hux found the naturalness of the whole situation to be a bit off-putting.  Very gently, he let go of the girl and silently got out of bed.

It was still quite early in the morning, and the light of dawn had only begun to peek in through the window, casting her sleeping form in a bluish glow.  He stood there and stared at her for a moment, lost in thought.  How was it that this was the same woman he had served alongside in the First Order?  How was this sweet, innocent girl the same person who applauded so emphatically after his speech on the day the New Republic finally met its end?  It seemed outrageous that this gentle creature had turned over two Resistance fighters when she was a mere teenager.  Hux couldn’t make sense out of the fact that such a tenderhearted individual could also be so strong and willful. 

He was suddenly struck with the realization that he was truly smitten with the girl.  Every part of her intrigued him and impressed him.  He could spend a lifetime trying to learn every detail about her, and the idea of doing so appealed to him very much.

With a soft smile, he pulled the comforter on the bed up to cover her better and kissed her on the cheek.  Hux smiled to himself as she stirred in her sleep and scrunched her nose up in response to him touching her face.

He reluctantly tore his gaze away and made his way to the refresher to shower.  When he got out, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped to the sink.  He had just pulled his straight razor out of the cabinet and set it down on the counter when there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“Good morning,” he said, pulling open the door.

“Morning.”  She stood there looking at him.

“Do you need something?”

“I woke up and you were gone.”

Hux could have sworn that the expression on her face was one of hurt, and it pained him to see her look like that.

“I apologize.  I left quietly so I wouldn’t wake you up.”  He was somewhat disappointed to recall that that meant she wasn’t aware they had curled up together in their sleep.  As embarrassed as he had been about it at the time, he now realized that she would find it endearing, and he very much wanted to endear himself to her.

“Oh,” she frowned. “Do you have to go somewhere?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he informed her, “I have business to attend to.  As much as I would enjoy spending the day with you again, I do have a galaxy to lead, and at the moment, a large portion of that galaxy does not want me leading it.  Most of my day will be spent in an advisory meeting to discuss war reparations and aid shipment to war-torn planets.”

“Am I supposed to stay here all day?”

“You can if you’d like to, but that’s not necessary.  You’re welcome to leave, but if you exit the palace, you’ll be escorted by the Imperial Guards.  If you would rather stay here, you also have the option to acquaint yourself with the layout of our home.”

 _Our home._   The words felt strange on his tongue.  _Our home_.  There had never really been a place for him to consider a true home.  He hated Arkanis too much to ever consider it such, and no ship or base on which he had ever found himself had ever come close.  This, though – this was a home.  This was a home, and he was sharing it with another person who had spent a lifetime feeling just as displaced as he always had.

“Where will you be?” she asked. 

“I will be in the council room.  I’ll come right back here when I’m done.”

“But how will I know you’ve come back if I’m out exploring the palace,” she countered.

“You don’t have to come back when I do.  You can use your free time however you please.  However, if you would like, I can send someone to fetch you.  There are security feeds covering every inch of this building, so it wouldn’t take long to find you.”

“Every inch?”

“Well, I suppose that’s an exaggeration,” he said quickly, noticing the worried look on her face.  “There are no audio or holo recorders in here.  No one can see or hear what we do in privacy of our chambers.”

“That’s a relief.”

Hux knew immediately that she was thinking of their liaison the day before.  He, too, was rather glad that no one had access to a recording of that exchange.  That was one of the reasons that there was no video surveillance in Hux’s chambers.  It would not be in the best interests of the New Galactic Empire for footage of the Emperor engaged in lewd acts to be leaked onto the holonet.  The last thing that would help Hux gain favor would be for pornographic tapes of his exploits to be made available to the public.

“So, how long will you be gone?” she asked curiously.

“There’s no way to say for sure.  It all depends on how cooperative the council decides to be today.”

“Oh, alright.”

“If you need anything at all throughout the day, don’t hesitate to ask someone,” Hux informed her.  “Guards are posted all over the palace, and if they can’t help you, they can direct you to someone who can.”

“Okay, thanks.  You know, I resume my duties as Captain next week,” she said. 

“Yes, I believe someone already mentioned that fact to me.  I suppose it must be nice to finally have time off after all of your years of service.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure how it’s going to work out.  I’m afraid that nothing is going to be the same.”

“Your worry is that your peers will treat you like a queen rather than a captain,” Hux guessed.  “Perhaps you can use that to your advantage.”

“If I’m promoted, I want to deserve it,” she frowned. “I don’t want to cheat my way to the top.”

Hux smirked at her.  “If you recall, that’s the attitude that made you a captain in the first place.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just because you wanted to marry me?” she teased.

“That _is_ why I wanted to marry you.”

That was true.  The entire reason Hux had chosen this woman in particular was because of her work ethic and attitude towards promotion.  However, in the time since his proposal, he had come up with a thousand reasons to believe he had made the right decision, and he expected to come up with at least a thousand more.


	20. Propaganda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux encounters growing dissent in his new Empire. Awkward conversations with Kylo Ren become the theme of the day.

The meeting with the advisory council lasted all day and was completely and utterly tedious. He was partial to routine. Tedium, on the other hand, he loathed entirely.  An entire day had been wasted listening to opinions he cared nothing about.  When it was finally over, he left the room as quickly as he could, but not as quickly as he would have liked.  He was stopped for conversation three times before he finally made it to the corridor, where he heaved a sigh of relief.  There was nowhere in the galaxy he wanted to be less than inside of that council room.  He strode purposefully in the direction of the nearest elevator.

“Hux,” someone called out from down the hall.  Hux froze in his tracks, annoyed.  “I need to talk to you.”

He turned angrily on his heel to see Kylo Ren walking in his direction.  “What do you want?”

“Well, I see you’re in an excellent mood today,” Ren sneered after taking off his mask.  “I take it you haven’t had much success in seducing your bride.  Unless, of course, your foul demeanor stems from a lack of sleep, which would also be completely understandable.”

“I have neither the time nor the patience to discuss-“

“You’ll make time, and you’ll muster up the patience.  Whether or not you’ve deflowered your Empress affects the accuracy of the alleyway propaganda circulating around Coruscant.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kylo Ren pulled a piece of folded-up paper from his robe and handed it to Hux.  “I think you’ll find this… enlightening.”

Hux unfolded it to see that it was indeed some sort of political poster featuring an unflattering cartoon of himself in bed next to a repulsive creature bearing his wife’s face.  At the top, it bore the caption _DON’T STAND IDLY BY WHILE YOUR EMPEROR SLEEPS WITH SARLACCS_.

“What do you think?” Ren asked casually, stepping to look at the poster over Hux’s shoulder.  “I found it to be quite entertaining.”

“Someone will be held accountable for this,” Hux fumed, wadding up the paper into a ball. 

“Hmm, I’m going to venture a guess that your problem isn’t a lack of sleep.”

“This is no joking matter, Ren.  This is…”  What was it exactly?  Treason?  No, that seemed to be too strong of a word.  “This is _dissent_.  I won’t stand for it.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“The person responsible will be tracked down and punished accordingly.”

“Wow, you’re really striking back with a vengeance.”  Ren rolled his eyes.

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Fine.  In that case, I’ll leave you to return to Mrs. Hux.  I’m sure you’re keeping her very busy, even if you’re not keeping her very satisfied.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but as a matter of fact, I am not,” Hux sneered, realizing only after the words came out of his mouth that he had misspoken.  He sounded like he was confessing to being an unskilled lover.  “No, I didn’t mean-”

“Well, I knew the truth, but I didn’t expect you to admit it so openly.  I can give you advice on how to give her what she wants, but-”

“Enough.  I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of pleasing a woman.”

“She’s uninterested,” Ren speculated.  “Equally believable.”

“She’s _afraid,_ ” Hux said defensively.  Whether he was defending himself or the girl, though, he wasn’t sure. 

“Oh, so I was right before.  It _is_ a thing about virgins.”

“This conversation is over,” Hux huffed, storming off down the corridor.

Unfortunately, Hux was stopped again in the elevator by one of his advisors who had left something in the council room.  He had to suffer through yet another unwanted conversation.  Even worse, the advisor seemed to be intent on bootlicking his way into the Emperor’s graces.  The conversation seemed to be unending, and it took several attempts for Hux to finally get away.

He heaved a sigh of relief upon finally stepping inside the door of his chambers.  It was nice to finally be alone after a day spent surrounded by his advisory council.  However, he was somewhat disappointed to find that he really was all alone.  The girl was nowhere to be seen.  He supposed she was still on her quest to explore the Imperial Palace. 

About ten minutes later, however, she walked through the door, looking rather confused.

“Is something wrong?” Hux asked, noting her expression.

“I just had the strangest conversation with Kylo Ren,” she said.

“That makes two of us,” he murmured.  “What about?”

“About you.  About me too, I guess.”

“Good things, I dare to hope.”

“He, um… He asked me about our, um, _intimate_ _life._ ”

“Did you tell him anything?” Hux was surprised.

“No, I said that I didn’t want to discuss that with him, but then he started giving me a bunch of advice.”

“I’ll have to have a word with him.  That’s hardly appropriate behavior.”  Hux knew that (Y/N)’s conversation with Ren had most definitely happened as a result of his earlier discussion with the man, and he felt a bit guilty for indirectly putting her through that.

“Some of it was actually kind of helpful.  Although I wasn’t always sure when he was being serious and when he was being sarcastic.”

“One does always run that risk when speaking with Kylo Ren,” Hux observed.  “It keeps conversation interesting.”

“It certainly does.”


	21. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The life of an Emperor is not an easy one. Hux wants his wife to trust him. Surprises are in store for both of them.

Hux’s days seemed to get busier and busier, and he returned to his chambers later each evening as he managed all of the problems that arose from running an entire galaxy.  One night, he returned so late that he found the girl curled up near the foot of the bed, asleep and still dressed in her clothing from the day.  He was touched when he realized that she had been waiting for him.

Eventually, the day came when she resumed her regular duties as captain.  Hux’s schedule had become so hectic that her daily absence had absolutely no effect on the amount of time he was able to spend with her.  He saw her early in the morning and late at night, but rarely anytime in between.  He began to notice that during those times of separation, he missed her company.

There came a point at which Hux asked her to stop waiting up for him at night.  His agenda had become unpredictable to the point that there was never any way to tell when he would be finished for the day.  Night after night, he returned to dark rooms, going about his business as quietly as possible before sliding carefully in bed, so as not to wake his wife.

One such night, he crept silently into the bedroom, taking care not to make any noise as he walked to the closet, kicking off his boots and tugging his shirt off as he did so.  As he was about to open the closet door, he noticed the glowing lights from the city filtering in through the window, silhouetting a female figure.

“I told you not to wait for me,” Hux said, setting his discarded clothing items on the floor and walking over to where the girl stood.  As he got closer, he could see that she was wearing that damned slip again.

“You look tired,” she observed, reaching up a hand to caress his cheek.  He closed his eyes at her touch.  He had forgotten how much he enjoyed being close to her.  There was just something about that woman that absolutely captivated him.

“I am tired.”

“You’ve been so busy lately.  I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“I know.”

“I stayed up because I wasn’t sure when I would get a chance to talk to you again,” she confessed.  “I know I see you in passing every morning, but I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” he replied, shocked by how much he meant it.

“This was the only way I knew for sure I would see you.”

“I’m glad you did.”  Gently, he kissed her, rolling one of the thin straps of her slip between his thumb and index finger.  “Have I mentioned how fond I am of this?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said with a smile.  “I could tell, though.  That’s why I put it on.  Well, that and one other reason.”

Kissing her neck, Hux gladly took the bait, asking, “What reason would that be?”

“I thought you might like to take it off,” she whispered into his ear.

“Are you sure?” he asked, fingers brushing over the straps that stood between him and what he wanted. 

“Absolutely.”

“Alright then,” he said blankly, staring at her with hungry eyes.

He tugged at her hand, pulling her in the general direction of the bed. She stared at him wide-eyed as he reached down and pulled the slip up over her head.  She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.  She had planned ahead.  Hux inhaled sharply at the sight of her exposed form, lit only by the bluish light that glowed through the window.  He wondered momentarily if he should find some way to cover that window.  It was enormous, after all.  However, he soon remembered that no one could get close enough to see inside, and his worries vanished.

“You look absolutely stunning,” he said, brushing his thumb across her cheek.

Self-conscious, she covered herself with her hands.  “Do you have to stare?” she mumbled, cheeks flushing visibly even in the low light.

“I apologize.”  With no small amount of effort, he managed to tear his eyes away from her bare skin.  Unable to think of anything to say that would advance conversation, he kissed her instead, pulling her flush against him.

She sighed as his hands roamed over her body. “Armitage,” she murmured under her breath.

“On the bed,” he said, his breathing ragged.

She obliged, reclining against the pillows while Hux unbuckled his belt and removed the last remaining pieces of his clothing.  In no time at all, he was on top of her, touching and kissing every part of her body.  His lips trailed from her cheek to her jaw, from her jaw to her neck, from her neck to her collarbone, and lower, lower, lower…

“What are you doing?” She squirmed away from him when his tongue licked a broad stripe across her clitoris.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he said, raising an eyebrow.  “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then believe me when I say that this will make it better.”

With a nod, she settled back against his mouth and closed her eyes as he started again.  Hux held on to her hips, skillfully using his mouth to draw pleasure from her.  He trailed an experimental finger across her entrance, pleased to find that she was positively dripping with desire.

“Don’t stop,” she whined as he pulled his head away.  “Why are you stopping?”

“Trust me,” he reminded her.  Hux held himself up on one arm, taking his stiff member in the other hand.  “Are you ready?”

She nodded a nervous reply. “Yes.”

With that, he lined himself up, slowly sliding inside of her.

“Relax,” he advised her, paying careful attention to her facial expressions.  “How does that feel?” he inquired, pushing deeper.

“Ah!”

“That doesn’t tell me anything.  Does it hurt:  yes or no?”

“No,” she breathed, “it doesn’t hurt.  That was a good ‘ah!’ not a bad one.”

“Excellent.”  He grinned with satisfaction, kissing her neck as he gently began to move in and out.  “Tell me what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want.”

“Yes, you do.  Faster?  Slower?  Harder?  What do you want?”

At the sound of the word _harder_ her eyes lit up.  “Mm, harder,” she said breathlessly.

Hux was more than happy to indulge her.  He increased the force of his movements, thrusting harder than before but not so hard as to cause her discomfort.  He had been watching her closely to gage her reactions, but the simple act of keeping his eyes open was becoming increasingly difficult.

“Relax,” he said again as he felt her tighten around him.  The added friction was deceptive.  As wonderful as it felt for him, he knew it was because she was nervous. “Ah! Mmm…”  He could feel the difference as she heeded his advice.  “Good. Excellent.”

Her hands tangled up in his hair, turning his neatly styled locks into a wild mess.

“(Y/N), relax,” he repeated as he felt her walls tightening again. 

“Armitage!” she moaned, and Hux began to realize that his advice wasn’t going to be helpful this time. Ah! Ah!”

As she reached her climax, the force of her orgasm caused her to tug unthinkingly on one of the handfuls of hair that she had been grasping.  It seemed to be equally surprising to both of them when Hux whimpered in response.  Her eyes widened, and he froze up.  He had never made that sound before in his life, and certainly not in response to having his hair pulled. 

“Do that again,” he instructed, amazed at how desperate his own voice sounded as he spoke.

She obediently pulled at his hair again, causing his eyelids to flutter.

“Good,” he praised.  “Keep doing that.”

As he began to move his hips again, she continued to tug at his locks.  It didn’t take long before he toppled over the edge, shaking as he came.  He held himself up for a moment, trying without success to catch his breath before rolling onto his back.

“I’m glad I waited up for you,” the girl mumbled drowsily as Hux pulled her body up against his.  “That was amazing.”

“ _You_ were amazing.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she protested.

“I disagree,” he contended with a satisfied sigh.  “I’m sorry that things took such a strange turn at the end.”

“That’s okay.  Strangely enough, that was one of the pieces of advice Kylo Ren gave me.”

Hux raised himself up on his forearms beside her and frowned.  “Why would he tell you to pull my hair?  Just what did you two discuss exactly?”

“He didn’t tell me to do that.  He just suggested that you might have… unconventional preferences.”

“Such as?”  He was suspicious.  If what Ren had told the girl was a bout Hux’s supposed desires, then it was sure to cause him some sort of discomfort or embarrassment when implemented.

“He said that you like being humiliated.”

“As a matter of fact, I do not,” Hux said defensively.  “This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever derived any sort of pleasure from something of the sort.  Ren was obviously trying to trick you into embarrassing me.”

“Why would he do something like that?  I thought the two of you were friends.”

“Friends?” Hux wondered incredulously.  “We’re far from friends.  To call him an enemy would be a gross overstatement, but I would consider us to be rivals at the very least.”

“So I shouldn’t trust any of the advice he gave me?”

“I would prefer if you didn’t.  Since I’m unaware of the extent of misinformation he relayed to you, I think it would be in my best interests for you to disregard all of it.”

“Noted.  It was unsolicited advice anyways.”

“If you have questions in the future, you can feel free to ask _me_ ,” he informed her, laying back down. 

“Don’t worry about that,” she said, snuggling closer to him.  “If there’s anything I’ve learned tonight, it’s that I should trust you more.”

“Is that so?”

“Hmm,” she hummed contentedly.  “I think you’ve proved yourself.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”  He traced the curves of her body with his hand.

“I really mean it. “

“I’m flattered.”

“No, I really, really mean it.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to say,” Hux frowned.

“You don’t have to say anything.  I’m just letting you know that all of the things you did felt really good.”

“Alright.”

“I didn’t know that it could feel that good.”  She blushed. “Thanks.”

“Oh.”

He finally understood what she was trying to tell him.  In his everlasting state of selfishness, he had merely assumed that she was trying to pay him a compliment about his prowess as a lover, when in fact, she was trying to thank him for not hurting her.

“How do you feel now?” Hux asked her, realizing that he should stop focusing so much on his current state of post-coital euphoria and make sure she was still alright.

She thought for a moment.  “Tired. Hmm… a little sore.  Mostly really good, though.”

“Anything else?”

“Kind of gross,” she admitted.

“Regretful?” he asked, hoping above all else that she would say no.

“No, not that kind of gross.  I meant it in the sense that I feel sweaty and weirdly… um… sticky.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said softly, leaving her with a kiss before getting out of bed.  She sat up, and he could feel her eyes following him as he walked away.  He was oddly satisfied with the knowledge that she was watching him.

When he returned from the refresher with a damp washcloth in hand, she was grinning at him with amusement, a mischievous twinkle in her tired eyes.

“What are you laughing about?” he asked with a droll smile.

Her smile widened.  “You look good without any clothes on.  You’ve got a cute butt.”

“Oddly enough, that’s not a compliment I’ve ever received in the past.”

“That’s a shame.  I’m surprised women aren’t complimenting your ass all the time.”

“I could issue a decree,” he suggested jokingly.  “Then they would have to do it.”

She laughed.  _He_ had made her laugh.  Hux had to admit that he was fond of this freshly-fucked version of the girl.  She was less inhibited, more animated.

“But then I would be jealous,” she pointed out.  “I don’t think I could deal with other women staring at your butt all day.”

“Fine, then.  No decree.  It’s a shame, really.”

“For sure.”

“Here,” Hux said, sitting down next to her on the bed, “spread your legs apart.”

“Why?” she asked hesitantly.

“The least I can do is clean up the mess I made,” he informed her.

“Alright.”

“How do you feel now?” he asked after wiping up the drying ejaculate that trickled down her inner thighs.  “Less sticky, I presume.”

“Less sticky,” she agreed.

‘Good.”

“When do you think we’ll get a chance to do that again?”

“I don’t know.” 

To be completely honest, Hux was wondering the exact same thing.  This encounter had only taken place due to prior planning on her part.  His schedule was so busy that he couldn’t guarantee a night to spend with her for quite some time.  Not to mention the fact that he would be away for… That was it! 

“I’m going to Naboo,” he announced suddenly.  “I have to make a diplomatic visit as a gesture of formal thanks. Many of the planet’s wealthier citizens made significant contributions to the First Order during the war.  I leave next week.”

“You’re going to be gone?” she asked, sounding quite disappointed by the news.  “Why didn’t you mention it sooner?”

“When would I have mentioned it?” he said with a sad smile.

“How long will you be away?”

“A week.”

“A whole week?”

“Yes,” he explained, scooting closer to her, “a whole week.”

“That’s a long time.”

“It is.” He nodded in agreement.  “Especially for a couple so newly married…”

She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly becoming privy to the fact that he was hatching some sort of plan.  “What are you getting at?”

“Nothing in particular,” he said with an indifferent shrug, leaning back against the pillows.  “I just thought that it might be beneficial to public appearances if the Emperor’s wife accompanied him on his journey.  Newlyweds shouldn’t be kept apart for so long.”

“So it’s a honeymoon,” she observed quite astutely.

Hux smirked.  “Yes, in a roundabout sort of way, it is.”

“You say it’s to keep up public appearances, but this is really about finding time to sleep with me again, isn’t it?”

“Naturally.  So, what do you say to the idea?”

“I guess I’ll pack my bags."


	22. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emperor Hux and his wife arrive on Naboo.

“Wow,” the girl mumbled to herself as she accompanied Hux out onto the landing strip where their ship docked on Naboo.

“I take it that you’ve never been to Naboo before,” Hux observed.  “I assure you the charm will wear off.”

“There’s just so much to take in.”

“Greetings, Emperor Hux,” a dignitary called out, approaching from down the runway.  He was a rather short, plump old man with a neatly-groomed, enormous moustache.  His clothes were ostentatious and extravagant in every way, but every article of clothing seemed to be slightly too tight, dampening the overall aesthetic of luxury the man had so clearly hoped to achieve.  “I trust your journey was pleasant.”

“Zolar Dremine, I presume.”  Hux hated the formalities that were so intrinsic to the process of diplomacy.  He skipped whatever meaningless prattle he could whenever he saw the chance to do so.

“Yes, indeed I am,” the man said with a little bow.  He glanced somewhat nervously at the girl.  “I see you’ve brought a military escort.  The Imperial representative I spoke with failed to mention that.  We haven’t arranged for such accommodations. I suppose we can make some sort of arrangement.”

“No separate arrangements are needed,” Hux informed him.  “She will share my accommodations.”

“Emperor, it’s not my place to intrude on your personal matters-”

“No,” Hux interrupted him, “it most certainly is not.”

“This is not Coruscant,” Dremine insisted.  “The loose attitudes of the capital are not shared by the people here.  Naboo is a planet rich with tradition, and those who adhere to those traditions will not be keen to the idea of a married man, especially if that man happens to be the Emperor, sharing a bed with a common-”

Hux stepped very close to the old man and leered at him.  The dignitary cowered.  “Choose your next words very carefully Dremine.”

“A common soldier,” he finished meekly.

“I’ll have you know that this ‘common soldier,’ as you have so inelegantly addressed her, is a well-respected captain of the Navy of the New Galactic Empire.”

Out of fear, Dremine nodded apologetically in the girl’s direction.  “I’m sorry for any disrespect Captain…”

“Hux,” the girl supplied.

Something akin to pride washed over Hux when she spoke.  It was the first time he had ever heard her introduce herself by his name.

“My deepest apologies to both of you,” Dremine hurriedly said, wide-eyed with terror upon realizing his mistake. “I had no idea.  Empress, if I’ve caused you any disrespect-”

“Enough of your insolence.  We have Imperial business to attend to,” Hux informed him with annoyance.

“Of course, Emperor.  Right this way.”

Hux and the girl followed behind Dremine, and behind them followed the Imperial Guards.

“I shouldn’t have worn my dress uniform,” she whispered to Hux.

“Technically, it’s proper protocol for the occasion to wear it,” he whispered back.  “You had no way of knowing we would be greeted by a pompous ass.”

She suddenly linked her arm with Hux’s.  The act surprised him, but he wasn’t upset.

“What is this about?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“We have to maintain appearances, don’t we?” she retorted with a smirk.

“You’re absolutely right.”


	23. Diplomacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux is forced to engage in unpleasant conversation.

“You look absolutely stunning,” Hux said, watching the girl as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“I think this dress is a little too tight,” she grimaced.  “It’s not awful, but I’m not sure the hooks will hold up if I eat anything at this dinner.”

“This is a diplomatic dinner,” he pointed out.  “You’ll be too uncomfortable to eat.”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.  “Was that a joke?”

“If only,” he mused.  “Remember, everyone there wants something from you.  The official purpose of this visit is to thank the people of the planet for their support.  For some, that raises the expectation that they hold special favor with the Empire.  These people will spend the entire evening trying to work their way into your good graces.  That way, when the day comes that they need a favor, such as a decree being repealed or a nephew getting a position of employment he doesn’t deserve, they can turn to you and count on you to remember how lovely they were when you met at that dinner on Naboo. You’ll be so busy interacting with people who are trying to use you that you’ll never get a chance to take a bite.”

“You sound jaded.”

“Perhaps I am,” he frowned.  “Besides throwing their money at my army, the people of Naboo have done nothing to endear themselves to me.  In fact, over the years, I have developed a rather negative opinion.”

“Why is that?”

Hux could tell she was trying to dig deeper.  She wanted to find out something deep and meaningful about him, something more than the shallow questions they had been asking each other since the day of their wedding.  As much as he had come to care for her, he wasn’t sure he wanted to take that step.

“Bad experiences,” he said stiffly.

“But what does that mean?”

“I would rather not discuss it right now,” he snapped, more harshly than he had intended.

“Oh, alright.”

“I’m sorry.  That was too-”

“It’s fine,” she said.  “I shouldn’t have pried.  Do you think this dinner is going to be boring?”

“Dreadfully so, I expect.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

Hux offered her his arm.  “Shall we?”

“Lead the way, Emperor Hux.”

***

When they stepped into the formal dining room, all eyes were on them.  Hux knew it was out of respect for their status, but he liked to think that their appearance had something to do with it as well.  They made an attractive couple, after all.  Hux’s sleek, clean-cut clothing and the girl’s shimmering black gown stood out amongst the traditional Naboo finery, which was brightly-colored and voluminous.  _They_ , on the other hand, represented an entirely different world.  Their formalwear was modern and minimalistic in comparison with what their hosts were wearing. 

It made them stand out, which was something Hux was normally not fond of.  However, on this occasion, the contrast reminded him that he was _different_ from these people.  He wasn’t steeped in their traditions.  He hadn’t grown up with their luxuries.  He wasn’t one of them, and yet, at the end of the day, he was the one to whom they bent the knee.

Hux enjoyed the power he held over them.  He reveled in it.

The couple was seated in a position of honor at the middle of the table.  There, everyone could see them and curry favor as desired.  When all was said and done, Hux would have much rather spent his evening chatting with the girl than conversing with Naboo’s wealthiest citizens.  However, the purpose of his visit was to convey his thanks, not talk to his wife.

“Now, Emperor Hux,” an ancient woman wearing an enormous headpiece said to him over dinner, “tell us about yourself.  Surely your subjects should be familiar with the story of their beloved ruler.  Indulge us with a tale.  Where did you come from?  What has your life been like?  We’re simply dying to know!”

“Well, in regards to your first question, I hail from Arkanis.”

“Arkanis!” someone exclaimed from the far-right end of the table.   “Why, that’s an Outer Rim planet!”

“Yes, indeed it is.” Hux suppressed a sour expression that threatened to break out across his face.

“Ooh, how perfectly primitive!  What was it like?” a young debutante squealed.  “Surely you have some wonderful stories.”

“I’m afraid not,” Hux frowned.  “Arkanis is a rather bleak planet.  It rains almost constantly, and the sun rarely shines.  Most of my time there was spent in the Galactic Empire’s officer training academy.”

“Do you bear any relation to a Commandant Brendol Hux?” the pushy old woman piped up again. 

Hux clenched a fist under the table.  He should have known they would mention Brendol Hux.  It was inevitable in such a setting.  Everyone in the room was absolutely aching to namedrop every important person that they had ever met.  It was only fitting that they should bring up the one he wanted to discuss the least.

“Yes, the commandant was my father,” he informed them dryly.

“If Brendol Hux was your father, then you must have had quite a childhood,” Zolar Dremine, the dignitary who greeted them upon their arrival, quipped.  “He was a man of great honor.”

 _Great honor?_  Hux wanted to scoff.  He had quite a childhood indeed.  Although, he suspected it was nothing like what these people imagined it to be.  If only they knew…

“That would make Maratelle Hux your mother then,” Dremine deduced.

That assumption would have made the most sense.  Unfortunately, that was not the reality of the situation.  Everyone at the table took Hux’s silence for an affirmative answer.

A comforting hand rested upon Hux’s white-knuckled fist.  He looked to his left where his wife was sitting, and the girl smiled up at him reassuringly.

“How is your father these days, Emperor Hux?” the extravagant old crone interjected.  “I haven’t heard anything about him in years.”

“The commandant is no longer living,” Hux stated blandly.  “He died several years ago.”

 _I made sure of it,_ he thought bitterly to himself.  _It was time to be rid of him._   He looked at the twenty or so people around the table and realized they would never understand.  Not about having his father assassinated – that would be hard to explain to anyone.  No, they would never understand what life was like for anyone who wasn’t them.  They had no chance of ever grasping the concept that Hux’s life hadn’t been a wild ride of extravagancies in which he simply paid his way out of all of the problems the world threw at him. 

Still, that gentle hand anchored him.  Hux unclenched his fist and flexed his fingers, sore from the strain of keeping his anger in check.  He glanced at the girl.  She looked every bit as uncomfortable and out of place as he felt, yet she felt the urge to comfort him.

“Well, that’s a shame,” a man in a wine-colored robe lamented.  “Brendol Hux was a fine man.”

“He was unlike anyone I’ve ever met,” Hux said, trying to find something to say about his father that would neither offend the sensibilities of everyone at the table nor be an outright lie.  “He certainly carved out a legacy for himself.”

“He would have been very pleased with you,” Zolar Dremine announced confidently.  “Emperor of the New Galactic Empire!  He couldn’t have asked for more!”

With quite some surprise, Hux realized that Dremine was right.  His father would have been pleased with his position indeed.  He was everything Brendol Hux could have ever hoped for him to be.

And the thought disgusted him.


	24. Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the request of his wife, Hux tries to lighten up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was getting ready to post this, I realized that this is chapter 24, and I haven't updated the tags since I started this fic. I finally updated them, though.

“Was dinner as bad as you thought it would be?” the girl asked when the door of the chambers they were staying in closed behind them.

“Worse,” Hux answered.

“I could tell you hated it in there.”

“Do you think they noticed?”

“No,” she decided, “they were too caught up in themselves to notice what was going on with you.  I don’t think they knew they were making you uncomfortable.”

“I suppose that’s for the best.”

“Can you help me unhook this awful thing?” she asked with a sour face, tugging futilely at the tiny clasps that held the back of her dress together. 

Obligingly, Hux stepped behind her and opened the back of her gown.  As the expanse of her skin was revealed little by little, he was reminded of their wedding night.  There was something quite appealing about the prospect of helping her out of her clothes for the rest of his life.

“Thanks,” she said, shimmying out of the dress once the hooks were undone.  It pooled around her ankles in a heap of glittering fabric.  “I thought I was going to suffocate in that thing.”

“Is this new?” Hux wondered aloud, smoothing a hand across the silky material of the slip she was wearing underneath.

“Yes.”

“I like it.” 

He did.  He liked it very much.  It was longer than the one he had seen her wear in the past – the one she had been wearing the first time they had sex.  The hem fell all the way to the floor, but the neckline plunged deeper. 

“I thought you would,” she smiled.

“Tell me, is it your sole ambition in life to be my undoing?” he asked with a pleased sigh as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“I don’t know about _sole_ ambition,” she teased, “but it’s certainly on my list.  It’s fun to see you get all flustered.”

“And why is that?”

“It lets me know you’re a real person.  You’re always so stiff and formal, but when you’re trying to be flirty, you loosen up a little.”

“I’m not stiff and formal,” said Hux rather defensively, noticing that his posture had become more rigid as he spoke.  He relaxed his shoulders and repeated the sentiment.  “I’m not stiff and formal.”

“Yes, you are,” she scoffed.  “You have a pretentious vocabulary, you always stand super straight, you-”

“Enough,” he interrupted with a frown.  “I’ve grasped the concept.”

“You know you’re allowed to relax a little, right?”

“I’m the ruler of the entire galaxy.  That hardly seems like a viable option.”

“You’re allowed to relax around _me_ ,” she specified with a roll of her eyes.  “You don’t have to talk to me like you’re my commanding officer, and you don’t have to be all proper.

“How do you suggest I go about doing that?”

“Hmm… I think this will be a good start.” She turned around in his arms to face him and reached up, ruffling his hair.  He instinctively moved to smooth it back into place, but she caught his wrist.  “No, leave it.  This is exactly what I’m talking about.  Lighten up.”

Hux stood dumbfounded as she let go of his wrist and went back to messing up his hair.  She was laughing and smiling, and part of him wished that he could be that carefree.  She seemed so happy.  That had been Hux’s hope above all else – that they could be happy together.  What was holding him back?

Without another thought, he picked the girl up and twirled her around.  She gasped with pleasant surprise as he whisked her off of her feet.  If she wanted him to loosen up, he would loosen up.  He could relax.  He could be casual.  Maybe he hadn’t ever had the opportunity to do so in the past, but it was as good a time as any to try.

“Do you want to go to bed?” she blurted out as he set her back on her feet.

“If you’re tired…”

“No,” she interrupted.  “I was trying to ask if you’re interested in having sex.”

“Oh.” He was a bit taken aback.  It was unlike her to be forward.  “In that case, yes.  Now?”

“Yes.”

“Right now?”

She rolled her eyes again.  “Would you rather wait an hour or something?”

“No, now is good,” Hux nodded, following after her as she led the way to the bedroom.  “I just wasn’t expecting this.”

“This is our unofficial honeymoon.  You shouldn’t sound so surprised.”

Once they were standing next to the bed, the girl froze, looking at Hux expectantly.

“What?”  He wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted from him.

“I don’t know what to do next,” she nervously intoned.  “I mean, I know what to do, but I’m not really sure how to transition from just standing here to actually doing it without making this completely awkward.”

“Hmm, well, I think it’s too late for that.”

“Shut up and tell me what to do.”

“Well, you could strip off your clothes,” Hux suggested, deadpan.  “I can take off mine, or you can.  I could also take off your clothes if you’d prefer.  There are several options, but I believe the underlying prerequisite for us to go any further with this is for one or both of us to at least partially undress.”

“Very funny,” she mumbled, taking off her slip, “but I’m not really in the mood for jokes.”

Hux noted that she was wearing undergarments this time.  He realized that he had never seen her in this particular state of undress before, and he drank in the sight.

“Help me get your clothes off,” she instructed, fumbling with his belt.  While she worked on that, Hux shrugged off his jacket and removed his shirt.  By the time he was finished, she had opened his fly and was tugging down his trousers.

“What would you like me to do now?” Hux asked patiently.  He was curious to see how things would pan out when she was the one calling the shots.

“Do whatever you did last time.”

“Exactly what I did last time?” He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“It doesn’t have to be _exactly_ the same, but whatever you did last time was good.”  She rolled her eyes.  “Also, why are you being so snarky?”

“You wanted me to loosen up,” he pointed out.  “I’m trying to be lighthearted.”

“I should be more careful what I wish for.”

“You really should,” Hux agreed.

“Just shut up and kiss me already.”

 

 

 


	25. Brightness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux's life is changing.

Hux awoke to the unfamiliar sight of soft light filtering into the room through gauze curtains.  He squinted at the invading brightness, struck by how oddly foreign he found the sight.  So many mornings, he had woken up in the darkness of shipboard quarters.  In his childhood, there had always been a prevailing gloom that hid the sun.  Now, he had become accustomed to the artificial light of Coruscant’s cityscape.  This, on the other hand, was something he had rarely experienced.  So often, he awoke before the sunrise.  It was pleasant to have this opportunity to rest for once.

There was a quiet, sleepy sound that momentarily permeated the peaceful silence, and Hux smiled as he looked at his sleeping wife, who was curled up against him with her head on his chest, tangled up in the sheets.  Caught up in the moment, he was fully content.  This is what he had wanted – to be happy with her.  If what he was experiencing wasn’t happiness, then he didn’t know what was.

He lay there silently, enjoying the calm quiet of morning, relishing the weight on his chest as he breathed in and out.  Even in the contentment, though, there was disquiet.  There was a thought lurking at the back of his mind – a voice telling him that it all had to end.  At the end of the week, they would return to Coruscant.  Business would resume as before.  They would go back to the practice of passing like strangers, never getting a chance to speak to one another.

Hux pushed the invasive thoughts aside.  He would take joy in their togetherness while it lasted. 

“Good morning,” Hux said quietly as the girl began to stir.

“Mm,” she mumbled in drowsy response.  “Morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah,” she grinned, a rosy blush spreading across her cheeks, “really well.  Um… So last night…”

“Excellent, wasn’t it?” he observed with a contented sigh.

“Yeah,” she agreed.  “Especially the second time.”

“Ah, the second time,” he recalled fondly, remembering the way she had convulsed underneath him, the way she had cried out his name.  _Armitage!  Oh, Armitage!_

“The only bad thing about it was that _awful_ face you made.”

“What awful face?”  Hux didn’t remember making any kind of strange face.  Then again, he didn’t remember much besides the feeling of release and the sound of her moans.

“At the end, you make a face like this.”  She proceeded to demonstrate the expression in question.  She rolled her eyes back in her head, fluttered her right eyelid, and bared her teeth. 

“I don’t think I should be judged so harshly for my facial expressions while in the throes of passion.  You’re not faultless yourself.”  He went on to mimic the faces she had made during the height of orgasm. 

“Do I really look like that?” she grimaced.

“If it’s any consolation, it’s more endearing when you make the faces than when I do.”

“Maybe you should work on finishing with a different expression, though.  It’s kind of disconcerting.” 

“I’m not sure that I have much control over that,” Hux informed her.  “The reaction is involuntary.  I don’t know what I would do to fix it.”

“Hmm, maybe you just need to practice,” she suggested with a wink, trailing a finger across his abdomen.

“Perhaps,” he smirked.

Her hand ventured further down, eventually finding his stiff cock.

“Oh!  Is this just from talking about last night?”

“No, it was like this when I woke up.  Although, I won’t deny the possibility that the topic of conversation contributed.”

“So, does that mean that you don’t want to…”

“No,” he stopped her before she finished speaking, “it doesn’t mean that at all.”  He didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to repeat the bliss of the night before.  “Here…”

Hux pulled her on top of him and had her sit upright, straddling his hips.  Her eyes widened with what appeared to be a combination of apprehension and excitement as she realized what he had in mind.  He looked up at her with admiration, running his hands up and down her sides.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, reaching up to caress her cheek.  “Everything about you is beautiful.”

He meant it.  Hux had come to appreciate the girl in ways he couldn’t have previously imagined.  He was completely enamored with both her physical appearance and personality.  The longer he was around her, the more he learned about her – it all just added to the list of reasons he was glad he had chosen her over anyone else.

He inhaled sharply as she sunk down onto him, sheathing him inside of her.  She was slow, hesitant; she was testing the waters.  Hux knew she hadn’t done this before.  He was throwing her into a new situation without any explanation, but he knew she would figure it out.  She always picked up on what she was supposed to do.

She started out trying to move up and down on his cock, mimicking the motion he used to thrust into her.  Hux saw her beginning to struggle, but didn’t correct her.  She needed to do it on her own.  It would be more satisfying for her to learn for herself, to discover how to move her hips and manipulate his body for her pleasure.  Experimentally, she rolled her hips, and Hux could tell from the way her eyes lit up that she had noticed a difference.  She picked up the pace, trying out new motions and grinding up against him.  Hux struggled to keep his eyes open as the sensation of her body on his threatened to overwhelm his completely. 

“I’m close,” Hux gasped, feeling himself nearing the edge of release.  “I’m almost there.”

“I’m not there yet,” she panted.

“I’ll try to last as long as possible,” he assured her, reaching between them and finding her clit.  He began to rub in fast little circles, hoping to push her closer to the edge.  He didn’t want to leave her unsatisfied.  He had to last just a little… _just a little…_ “Oh!”  He shuddered as his body was wracked with the sensation of completion.

“What now?” the girl asked between little gasps of pleasure.

“Just keep going,” he instructed when he was able to speak.  “You can still go a little bit longer.”

She moved her hips faster, faster, _faster_!  She fucked herself desperately on his cock while it was still hard.

“MMM!” she cried out and collapsed on his chest, shaking.

After a moment, she rolled over onto her back and lay beside him.  They remained silent for some time, and Hux allowed his eyes to close, exhausted by the physical toll that pleasure had taken on him.  The silence was interrupted when the girl spoke.

“Armitage?”

“Hmm?” he glanced at her through heavy-lidded eyes.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

 

 


	26. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar face threatens to bring back Hux's past, but instead makes for an unsure future.

“Oh.” 

That was all he said to her when she confessed her feelings.  From the time she told him she loved him to the moment they stepped into the dining room for yet another formal dinner that evening, the only words he spoke to her were brief blurbs regarding the day’s agenda.  He knew he would have to speak to her eventually, but he preferred to put it off for as long as possible.

He had been shocked by her words, to say the least.  Love?  How could she be in love with him?  She barely knew him.  She knew the surface level things, sure, but none of what really mattered.  Those were the things he never told anyone.  There were dark parts of him he kept hidden from the world.  There were things he couldn’t ever speak of because no one would ever understand.  He was unlovable.  Why couldn’t she see that? 

“Armitage Hux,” a male voice mused incredulously as the couple walked in, “it’s been far too long!”

The man who was speaking walked up to Hux and extended his arm for a handshake, which Hux begrudgingly obliged.  The man was around Hux’s age but looked immensely better in every sense of the word.  He was at least five inches taller and a great deal more physically fit.  Where Hux was thin and spindly, this man was burly and muscular.  Hux was pale and gaunt, but _he_ bore a sunkissed glow.  He countered Hux’s stoic formality with casual charm.  He was dressed in toned-down (though traditional) Naboo finery, while the Emperor was dressed in what suddenly felt much too similar to a general’s uniform.  Everything about this man was the complete antithesis of Armitage Hux.

“I’m afraid your familiarity isn’t reciprocated,” Hux admitted with some disdain.  He wasn’t sure who this man was, but he already resented him. 

“Daykal Locgra,” the man said with a charming grin.  “We were classmates at the Officers Academy.”

“As much as it pains me to admit it, I don’t recall anyone by that name.  I apologize.”

That was a lie.  The name was all too familiar to Hux.  He now knew that his inexplicable resentfulness was justified.  He should have known who it was the second he heard the voice.  It had taunted him so many times in the past.

“I mean no offense, Emperor, but I hardly believe that,” Locgra said with a sad smile.  “I made your life a living hell.  If you don’t remember, it’s most likely because you’ve chosen to forget.”

“Are you aware of the fact that prefacing your statement with a disclaimer that you mean no offense does not, in fact, make what you say inoffensive?” Hux sneered.

“Hux, I’ve been trying to track you down for years.  You’re not an easy man to get in touch with.”

“An unfortunate drawback of maintaining order in the galaxy,” Hux lamented facetiously.

“I wanted to apologize to you.  I still do.  I’m not the same person I used to be.  I realize that I mistreated you in the past, and I want to right that wrong.  I don’t want anything from you, and I’m not looking for any special favors from the Empire.  I just want to finally tell you that I’m sorry and hope you accept my apology, but if you don’t, I understand.”

Hux debated his in silence for a moment.  He had absolutely no desire to accept the apology.  In fact, he found Locgra to be incredibly suspicious.  Apologetic or not, there was something that struck a bad chord when the man spoke to Hux.  Something about his demeanor was… _off_.  However, there was a nagging voice in his head that told him it was childish to hold on so tightly to a grudge from so long ago and the realization that declining would do little to raise the opinions of the Emperor held by the general populus.  He relented.

“Apology accepted.”

Locgra sighed with relief, reaching out for a handshake of gratitude.  “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Hux reciprocated the second handshake with no small amount of annoyance.

Locgra turned to the girl and dipped his head in a gesture of respect.  “My apologies for not addressing you sooner.  You must be the Empress.” He kissed her hand, and Hux struggled to fight back his temper when she blushed.  “I’m absolutely enchanted to meet you.”

Much to Hux’s chagrin, Daykal Locgra was seated across the table from him during dinner.  To make matters worse, it didn’t escape his notice that his wife’s eyes seemed very focused on the man.  He wasn’t generally self-conscious about his physical appearance, but he was very aware of the fact that Locgra was a great deal more conventionally attractive than he himself was.

 _You’re the Emperor,_ he reminded himself.  _He bows to you. They all bow to you_.

Perhaps Locgra was bowing a bit too low to the Empress, though. 

Hux spent the rest of the meal trying not to imagine what the propaganda would look like when word got out that the Emperor was being cuckolded.  He knew it was ridiculous to jump to conclusions.  Locgra and the girl had just met, after all.  However, he couldn’t discount the way her eyes darted across the table so often.

 _This is childish,_ Hux chided himself.  _All this jealousy is unfounded.  She married_ you. _She swore an oath in front of thousands of people.  She would be a fool to break that promise._

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound Locgra’s crooning voice.  “Now, Empress, is this your first visit to Naboo?”

“Yes, it is,” the girl answered.

“What do you think of our planet so far?”

“It’s lovely,” she told him with a blushing grin.  “Everything is so beautiful.”

“Indeed,” Locgra agreed with a sly grin that made Hux uneasy.  “Absolutely _breathtaking_.”


	27. Fidelity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and his wife have an argument, and he reluctantly makes a confession of his own.

The second the door closed behind him and they were alone, Hux grabbed the girl around the waist and kissed her long and hard.

“What’s going on?” she inquired suspiciously.

“Do you remember the day of our wedding?” he questioned her before kissing her again, somewhat aggressively.

“What?” She ducked away from him.  “Yes, we haven’t been married that long.  I obviously remember our wedding.  What’s your deal?”

“At our wedding, I promised to be loyal and devote myself to you.”

“Yes, and your point is…”

“You promised the same thing.”

“Yes, I did.”

She was becoming visibly annoyed, but Hux was too caught up in jealousy to stop interrogating her.  He had to have an answer – a definite answer.  He needed to know and be absolutely, positively sure that he was wrong about everything he suspected.

“You promised,” he repeated.  “You swore an oath.”

She gaped at him.  “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps I am.  I think I have some right to be when my wife is giggling and blushing at everything another man says like some kind of…” He struggled momentarily to come up with a comparison.  “…lovesick adolescent!”

“I can’t believe this,” she said softly.  “What is your problem?”

“My problem is you fawning over Locgra.”

“Is that really what you think?”

“It isn’t just what I think,” he sneered.  “I saw it with my own two eyes.  You were staring at him all night.”

“I’m _married to you_!  Why would I have any interest in that hulking idiot?”

“I noticed the way you looked at him.  You think he’s better than me.”

She stared at him with an intensity in her eyes with which he was unfamiliar and spoke to him angrily.  “What could possibly make you think that?  You’re the Emperor of the _whole fucking galaxy._   Locgra is some imbecile I’ve never even met before tonight.  I enjoy spending time with you, living with you, having sex with you, and being married to you in general.  There is no conceivable reason for me to have _any interest_ in _any other man_.  This morning, I told you that I love you.  Do you think I just said that for the fun of it?”

“You don’t love me,” Hux told her bluntly.

“Excuse me?” she stared at him with shock.  “I don’t think that’s up to you to decide.  Do you think the fact that you didn’t say it back means I don’t mean it?  That isn’t how it works!”

“I know that,” he frowned.  “I also know that you don’t love me.”

“And why is that?”

“ _Because you can’t_!” he shouted with exasperation. 

She stared at him in silence.  Hux waited for her to say something, to try and deny what he said, perhaps.  It caught him by surprise when she took his face in her hands and looked up at him with a sad expression.

“Why do you think you don’t deserve to be loved?”

Hux was taken aback by the question.  She didn’t have any right to ask him something like that.  It was absolutely out of the question for her to delve into his personal life that way. 

“I don’t live my life in an attempt to gain the admiration of others,” he informed her.

“That’s not what I’m asking you.  What makes you think you’re unworthy of affection?  I love you, Armitage Hux.  Why won’t you believe that?” Hux felt the wall he had spent his entire life so carefully constructing begin to crumble as she repeated the words.  “I love you.”

“No one has ever told me that before,” he said in a small voice, suddenly feeling very childish with her hands caressing his cheeks.  In fact, he felt very much like he had on his first day as a cadet at the Officers Academy – lost, confused, like he didn’t fit in somehow.  “You’re the first one.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, you’re the first man I’ve said it to,” she confided with a smile.

“No, no one has _ever_ told me that before,” he repeated, changing the inflection, hoping she would understand without needing him to explain it.

“I love you,” she said yet again, as if she could sense that he needed it to be repeated, wrapping her arms around him in a comforting embrace.  “I really do.  You deserve to be told that.  You deserve love just as much as anyone else.”

Hux had never known what it meant to be loved by another person.  That morning, when she had confessed her feelings to him in bed, he hadn’t felt the weight of what she said, just a startling discomfort at hearing those words spoken aloud.  In that moment, though, he finally understood.

 “I…”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she told him.  “I’m not going to change my mind just because you don’t say it back.  You don’t have to be in any hurry.  We’re going to be together for the rest of our lives one way or another.  I know you’ll be ready to say it one day.”


	28. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux's wife has an encounter with Daykal Locgra, and Hux finds a new reason to be suspicious about the man from his past.

“I would prefer not to talk about my father, if at all possible,” Hux had to insist at dinner later in the week.  The other guests sadly obliged.

Yet another dinner – he attended to Imperial business during the day, but the entire trip was beginning to feel like an endless string of formal dining engagements.  It was beginning to grow cumbersome.  Not to mention the fact that the food they served at each meal was absolutely ridiculous.

“What is this?” his wife whispered to him, poking at something gelatinous and orange on her plate.  “I think it’s alive.”

“No,” he whispered back, “I think it’s just jiggling because you jabbed it with your fork.  I think it, whatever it may be, is dead – if it was ever alive to begin with.”

“I’m afraid to eat it.”

“I’ll find out,” he said in a hushed tone.  Raising his voice to speak to the table at large, he said, “I don’t believe I caught the name of this dish.”

“Ah, this is fillari fish,” Zolar Dremine, the dignitary who had been the first to greet Hux and the girl upon their arrival, said.

“It’s a delicacy,” added Daykal Locgra, looking directly at the Empress, “only found on Naboo.  It’s very rare and very expensive.  It’s unlikely it will be served to you anywhere else.”

“Sir, are you suggesting that the Imperial Palace is unable to afford such luxuries?” she asked Locgra accusingly.

He choked on his wine.  “Why, no, of course not!  I would never imply such a thing.  You deserve only the best, my lady.  It would be impertinent of me to suggest otherwise.”

“Then I would suggest,” she informed him, “that you consider what you say before you insult the Empire in an attempt to bolster your own ego.”

“Your Highness, I never-”

“Furthermore, Locgra, I must insist that you stop your incessant flirting.  If your loose tongue isn’t enough of a disgrace to the Empire, then your blatant attempts to seduce me are borderline treasonous.”

“But I-”

“I think that everyone at this table who has been here at all throughout the week can attest to the fact that you have been far from subtle in your attempts to make a mockery of the Imperial marriage bed.”

People around the table nodded their assent.  Whether it was because they genuinely agreed or merely because they did not want to disagree with the Empress, Hux was unable to discern.

“I never meant any disrespect,” Locrga pleaded, desperately trying to defend his honor or lack thereof.  “I may have been flirtatious, but it was not my intention to-”

“I’m of the firm belief that your actions were _very_ intentional,” she argued.  “Are you content to end this debate, or would you prefer to explain your actions to my husband?”

“Hux, I never meant to-”

“No,” she interrupted him yet again.  “Address your Emperor with respect.”

“Emperor Hux, I-”

“Enough of your insolence,” Hux dismissed.  “You’ve insulted both my wife and the Empire as a whole.  Get out of my sight.”

“But-”

“Daykal, do as he says,” snapped the old woman in the especially extravagant clothes who had pried so much into Hux’s life on the first night of his visit.

“Grandmother, please-”

“Daykal, go,” the woman hissed, quite obviously embarrassed by the scene that was playing out before her.

Looking around and seeing that no one in the room was on his side, Locgra relented and ducked out of the room in embarrassment, glancing at the girl one final time before he left.

“Your Highnesses, I must apologize for my grandson’s behavior,” the old crone said pleadingly.  “I should have known that he was not fit to sit amongst royal company.”

“It will not be held against you, ma’am,” the girl told her, glancing at Hux to make sure she was in line to say such a thing.  He subtly nodded his approval.

“You handled the situation excellently, (Y/N),” Hux whispered to his wife.  “You sounded every bit as pretentious and formal as you accuse me of being.”

“I learned from the best,” she whispered back with a smirk.

“Madame,” Hux said to the old woman in the ornate finery, “I must say that I’m curious about something.  You say Daykal Locgra is your grandson, correct?”

“Yes, that is correct,” the woman informed him.

“I attended the Officers Academy with him in the days of the Old Empire.  Is there a particular reason why he never joined the First Order as an officer?”

“Not any reason of which I am aware.  After the fall of the Old Empire, Daykal left for several years and returned several months ago.  We were under the impression for quite some time that he _had_ joined the Order, though we learned upon his return that it was not the case.”

“Did he tell you what he was doing for all those years?” Hux inquired, a suspicion already formed in his mind.

“He was working for an arms dealer who sold weapons to the First Order.  Still noble enough work, I suppose.”

“Hmm, yes, I suppose.”

The topic of discussion moved away from Locgra as the evening progressed and turned towards much more dull topics such as the latest fashions among the Gungan royal court.  During the lull in conversation, the girl leaned over and whispered in Hux’s ear.

“You suspect Locgra of something, don’t you?” she guessed.  “What is it?”

“I know I don’t have the appropriate evidence to support such a claim,” he murmured in response, “but I have an inclination to believe that he was fighting for the Resistance.”

She eyed him uneasily.  “The Resistance?”

“Yes, something about him makes me feel ill at ease.  I don’t trust him , and it isn’t merely related to the way he acted towards you.  Something about his story about being an arms dealer doesn’t add up.  If he sold weapons to the First Order, I would have seen his name on a register.  If he wasn’t in the Resistance, then I suspect he was doing something illegal at the very least.”

“He was acting odd…”  The girl looked very uncomfortable.

“My intuition tells me he’s a Rebel, though, and my intuition hasn’t failed me yet.”

“Aside from the jealousy?”

“Well, you do have to admit that I was at least half-justified in my suspicion,” Hux noted.  “While I was completely wrong about your feelings in the matter, I was spot-on about Locgra’s intentions.”

“What’s he doing on Naboo if he was part of the Resistance?”

Hux’s eyes darkened at the thought of an investigation into Daykal Locgra. “That’s exactly what I intend to find out.”

 


	29. Conditional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux shares more of his suspicions about Locgra and makes the most of the next-to-last night on Naboo.

“So you really think that Locgra is leftover Resistance?” the girl asked when they were alone and behind closed doors.

“There are still cells of dissidents let all over the galaxy.  We struck down their bases and all but eradicated them.  Some of them were bound to slip through the cracks, though.  It’s entirely possible that Locgra is one of them,” Hux speculated.  “Did it strike you as odd when his grandmother mentioned that he returned home several months ago?”

“It did.  Why would he have come back?  The end of the war would have been a prime opportunity to sell the First Order weapons if he really was an arms dealer.  It would have been his last-ditch effort to make money.  Why would he bail out on it?”

“Locgra strikes me as a coward.  Do you agree?”

“Yes, and a pathetic one at that,” she scoffed, sitting down on an elaborately embroidered sofa.

“If he realized that the war was ending and that he was on the losing side, he would have done everything in his power to get out and dissociate himself from the Resistance in any way possible.  I would bet anything that he came up with the arms dealer excuse in advance in case his chances of finishing out the war as a hero ever looked doubtful,” Hux guessed as he paced back and forth across the room.  “He may not have cut off his ties, though.  His cowardice doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe in their cause.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I can’t do much here without raising Locgra’s suspicion.  However, I intend to contact Kylo Ren and put him in charge of launching an investigation into Locgra.  If he turns out not to be a Rebel, so be it.  If he is, he’s a threat to the Empire and could very well be conspiring against us.”

“You’re willing to trust Ren with this?” she asked, looking up at Hux curiously.  “I thought you two weren’t friendly.”

“He may not be a friend,” Hux told her, “but he is an ally, and an ally is what I need right now.  I don’t have time to deal with this on my own.  I have an entire galaxy to take care of.”

“And a wife who really wouldn’t like it if you took on a task that caused you to come home even later at night,” she added.

“That would certainly be a tragedy,” he agreed, sitting down beside her.

“At least we don’t have to worry about that right now.” She leaned her head against his shoulder.  “I don’t have to share you with anyone this week.”

“One more day,” he reminded her.  “Tomorrow is our last night her, and then we leave the next morning.”

“Back to Coruscant,” she said, placing her hand on his thigh.

“Back to never seeing each other.”

“Back to a sexless marriage,” she teased, palming his lap.

“Maybe I’ll resign,” he said with a sigh as her hand slid underneath the waistband of his trousers.  “We’ll run away to the Outer Rim and live the rest of our lives on the run.  They’ll find a replacement for me.  Better yet, the galaxy can rule itself.  Mass chaos, anarchy – what could possibly go wrong?  At least I’ll finally be able to have a moment alone with you.”

Hux closed his eyes while she groped and grabbed.  He couldn’t see her hand moving underneath the fabric of his pants, but he could certainly feel it.  He mentally praised her for being such a quick learner.  She had picked up on the finer points of pleasuring a man in almost no time at all.  She had figured out how hard, how fast, how long, how tight… how to do _everything_ to make him respond.  She knew exactly what to do. 

He felt around for something, _anything_ to hold onto to ground himself.  He eventually settled on the material of the girl’s dress, clutching a handful of it in a desperate attempt to maintain his grip on the world.  Then, he felt the noticeable shift in sensation when she switched from her hand to her mouth.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked breathlessly, looking at the back of her head through heavy eyelids that he couldn’t seem to make open all the way.

She sat up and wiped precum from her lips.  “It sounds like you want me to stop.  You must not be enjoying yourself,” she teased with a mischievous smile.

“If you have any plans to enjoy _your_ self, then you should stop while there’s still a chance of that.”

“Aww, how sweet,” she cooed jokingly.  “You think the only way to please me is to bounce me around on your dick.  How about I finish you off and then you return the favor?  Does that work for you?”

“That sounds perfectly acceptable,” he groaned as she leaned back down to continue the task at hand.  He held back a handful of her hair as she bobbed her head up and down.  “You’ve improved since the first time you did this.”

“Are you saying I was bad before?” She paused to look up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You certainly got the job done,” he recalled.  “However, you’re making much quicker work of it this time.”

“So you prefer speed to precision?” she pestered him when she stopped briefly for air.

“On the contrary, I always prefer precision.  In your case, though, it just so happens that an increase in precision is going to lead to a much faster outcome.”

She mumbled something indiscernible around his cock.

“I didn’t… catch that,” Hux said between grunts.  “You shouldn’t talk… when you… when your mouth is full.”

She her mouth away with an audible _pop._   “Maybe you shouldn’t talk when my mouth is full either.  You can’t even string a sentence together.  I said, ‘Is that your way of telling me you’re close?’”

“No, but as a matter of fact, I do happen to be very, very close.”

“In that case, let’s work at making you very, very, _very_ close.”  She ducked her head back down as if to resume her ministrations, but she sat back up and added, “By the way, if you finish in my mouth, I’ll swallow this time.”  With a wink, she took him back into her mouth.

It didn’t take long until she had to deliver on her promise.  A few short seconds later, Hux found himself unable to hold himself together any longer.  Crying out her name, he fell apart, coming in her mouth.  True to her word, she swallowed every bit of it.

“Ready to reciprocate?”

“Just a moment,” Hux requested, his breathing ragged.  “I need to catch my breath.”

“I think that means you’re out of shape,” she joked, poking him in the ribs.

While it was meant entirely as a joke, Hux realized that there was truth to her words.  Hux hadn’t had time for any form of exercise since he became Emperor.  The daily sex he was having that week was the most physical activity he had engaged in during the past several months, and his body was having trouble adjusting to all of the extra exertion. 

“Are you ready to fill your end of the deal now?” she asked after giving him some time.

“Yes,” Hux laid her down on her back and placed his hands on her hips, “under one condition.”

“That’s not fair,” she argued good-naturedly, squirming as he reached up under her formal gown to pull off her undergarments.  “You don’t get to add conditions.”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to try and negotiate.” He brushed his fingertip across her clit to prove his point and watched her shudder from the contact. 

“Fine, I’ll do anything you want,” she relented with a smile.

“Anything?”

She laughed.  “Don’t push your luck, loverboy.”

“Fine, my condition: spar with me tomorrow morning.”

“Is that some sort of euphemism?”

“No, there’s a training room here,” he explained.  “It’s technically for the building guards, but it won’t be in use.  Either way, I don’t think anyone would be bold enough to reject the Emperor’s request to use the facility for an hour or so.”

“If you want to fight me, just say the word.  We can have a go at it right here.”

Hux rolled his eyes and began rubbing small, gentle circles around her clit with his thumb.  “I think there are other things you would much rather do.”

“What if I say no to your little condition?”

“Well,” Hux intoned, increasing both the speed and intensity of his actions under her dress, “I think we both realize at this point that I’m not going to deny you what you want, so I suppose you’ll just have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge that you’ve disappointed me.”

“I think I can live with that,” she whimpered as Hux continued to move his fingers, “but I’ll do it anyway.”

“Excellent.”

With that, Hux lifted up the large skirt of her gown and let it fall over his head, hiding him from her sight as his mouth pressed up against her.


	30. Precision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux shows his skill as a lover and then recounts a time when that was not the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thirty chapters! Holy cow! We've come long way with this one, folks, and there's still plenty more to come.

Hux had always been very fond of performing oral sex.  He knew it was a bit of an unpopular opinion, but that didn’t sway him at all.  It all went back to his need for control and precision.  That’s what the act was all about, after all.  Hux was typically not a fan of passive sex acts, and cunnilingus was the exact opposite of passive.

Every movement, every moment of contact – it all had to be so intentional.  Perhaps not for everyone, but for Hux it certainly needed to be.  The thought of licking aimlessly and hoping for the best didn’t sit right with him.  He always went in with a plan of attack.  He made allowances, of course, for deviations from his strategy.  It was inevitable that he would have to change something.  If a woman responded particularly well to something, he was intelligent enough to realize that he should keep doing that.  If the reaction he hoped for didn’t come about, he knew to change his course of action.

As for the girl, he was becoming quite familiar with her reactions and what she did and didn’t like.  He knew the right place to squeeze her hip, the right way to drag his tongue across her most sensitive parts, and the right time to slip a finger into her dripping center of desire.  He was still learning how her body worked, but he could already play her like an instrument.

This time was different, though.  Every other instance in which Hux had gone down on her had served as a precursor to penetration.  He hadn’t yet brought her to completion using his mouth, and he was hell-bent on satisfying her.

“Ah!” she moaned.  “Oh, Armitage!”

She cried out his name several times before she became unable to say anything intelligible, at which point she began to shout what might have originally been intended as words but came out as nothing but a disharmony of carnal noises.

She convulsed and cried out in ecstasy, but Hux did not yield.  He kept going, working her through the seemingly unending high of her pleasure until she asked him to stop.

“It’s too much,” she whimpered, shaking and squirming.  “I can’t take any more.”

Hux licked his lips as he pulled away, obeying her request.  Knowing he had left her fully satisfied, he came out from under the skirt of her dress and finally looked at her.

“You’re good at that,” she hummed.  “I should make you finish the job more often.”  
“You prefer this to what we usually do?” he inquired.

“No,” she decided.  “You can do some pretty impressive things with your mouth, but it doesn’t really compare to that feeling when we really have sex.”

“And what feeling is that?”

“That… _full_ feeling when you’re inside me.  I don’t think I could give that up.”

“Fortunately, you don’t have to.”

“How did you learn to do all of this stuff so well?” she asked.  “You’re like an expert or something.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”  He smiled.

“You definitely should.  For real, though, how did you get so good?”

Hux wasn’t sure how to phrase his answer in a way that wouldn’t upset her.  She likely wouldn’t be pleased to know that his skill came as a result of experience with a rather large number of women.  Still, she had been the one to ask.

“Experience,” he told her, sitting upright and pulling her up to sit in his lap.  “I’ve picked up on things over the years.  I got better as I went along.”

“Just how many years?” she probed curiously.

“Since my first time?” he asked for clarification.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t remember my exact age, but I was an ensign at the time.  The woman was a lieutenant, I realize now that she was under the impression I was more experienced than I actually was.  I doubt she would have chosen me as her partner for the night if she had known I had never been with a woman before.  It was… disastrous to say the least.”

“Disastrous how?  I don’t mean to pry, but hearing about how you used to be a wreck in bed boosts my confidence.”

He really had no desire to recount the story.  It was horribly embarrassing to recall, but he realized that it didn’t really matter anymore.  The worst-case scenario he imagined involved the girl laughing at him and occasionally bringing it up to tease him about in the future.  That didn’t seem so bad in the grand scheme of things, and enjoyed the sound of her laughter.

“I was horrifically inept,” he explained.  “I didn’t know the first thing about how to touch a woman.  I had learned to kiss passably well, but that was the extent of my sexual skillset.  That poor woman took me back to her quarters for what she assumed was going to be a night of passion, and instead, she got to experience me fumbling around trying to find her clitoris.  I feel like it’s worth mentioning that I never did locate it.

“Eventually, she got so irritated with me that she gave up and ended up doing most of the foreplay to herself.  When she was finally ready for the actual event, I was done before I got all the way inside of her.  While I put on my clothes, she pulled out an enormous sex toy that made me feel very inadequate, and when she started taking care of matters on her own, I left in embarrassment.”

“I’m trying to picture this in my head,” the girl announced, placing her hand over Hux’s mouth in the off-chance that he tried to interrupt her thoughts.  She gave up after a moment.  “I don’t know what you looked like back then, so I can’t really imagine it very well.  Describe yourself to me.”

Hux pried her hand off of his mouth.  “About the same,” he informed her.  “I was a little shorter and thinner, and I still looked quite a bit like a child.  Overall, I looked like I do now, but like I was eighteen or nineteen instead of in my mid-thirties.”

“I always forget how much older than me you are,” she mused.  “So, basically, I should imagine you when you were a little younger than me.”

“Ideally, you won’t try to picture one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.”

“It’s more entertaining than my attempted fling with the stormtrooper,” she countered.

 “I don’t think I want to hear that story,” Hux told her.

He didn’t.  She might have been intrigued to hear about his failure in bed, but imagining someone else touching her made him nauseous.

“There’s really not much of a story,” she informed him.  “There was absolutely no foreplay, it hurt really badly, and I made him stop almost immediately.  It’s not nearly as interesting as your story.”

“At least you didn’t get the nickname ‘One-Pump Hux.’ Luckily, that was a very short-lived fad.”

“What?” she roared with laughter.  “One-Pump Hux?  That’s brilliant!  You must have been so embarrassed!”

“I was.”

“Sorry, sorry…” She wiped tears of amusement form her eyes.  “I shouldn’t be laughing.  I’m sure that was really tragic for you.  I just…” She burst out into another fit of laughter.

“I’m glad you can get some amusement from my misery,” Hux mumbled.

“Okay, but One-Pump Hux is clever.”

“Is it really?”

“Well, maybe it’s not _clever_ ,” she relented, “but it _is_ really funny.”

“Don’t ever call me that,” he warned.  The last thing he wanted was to start hearing that name again.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she promised.  “Besides, it’s not really a very fitting nickname anymore.”

“Right.”

She tried unsuccessfully to bite back her laughter as she teased, “Now you’re more of a two-pump guy.”


	31. Spar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux's sparring match does not end as expected, in more ways than one.

“Remind me again why I’m doing this,” the girl asked, wrapping her knuckles in tape and gauze.

“Because you care deeply about your beloved husband and relish each and every opportunity to spend time with him,” Hux supplied. 

“Hmm, likely story,” she scoffed, throwing the tape at him.  Hux caught it and proceeded to wrap his own hands.  “Can’t you find someone your own size to fight?  I feel like this is an unfair match.  Remember that whole thing where you were the general in charge of the entire First Order?  I sure do.”

“I haven’t sparred with anyone in ages,” he explained, stretching an arm across his chest.  “I’m out of practice.  Besides that, I’m not going to hurt you, if that’s what you’re worried about.   Trust me.”

“I feel like you’re always telling me to trust you.”

“Odd, it’s almost as if I think you should trust me more.”

“Shut up and fight me,” she demanded with a smile and a roll of her eyes.

After they moved to opposite sides of the mat, Hux looked his wife over, sizing her up.  While he had spent a great deal of time ogling her, he hadn’t ever scrutinized her as an opponent.  She was shorter than him.  That meant he had a bigger target painted on him than she did.  He also suspected that she was quicker than he was.  All in all, he expected it to be an evenly-matched fight.  His strength and fighting experience would be up against her agility and rigorous practice regimen.

“Don’t go easy on me,” she instructed, squaring up to him.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.  Would you care to set ground rules?”

“Rules?  We’re not going to actually attack each other for real.  We don’t need rules.”

“I beg to differ,” Hux frowned.  “I think it would be wise to establish some sort of structure for what we’re about to do.  I want the two of us to be on the same page.  For example, are we limiting ourselves to a specific style of fighting?  Will this be stand-up exclusive, or will ground fighting be allowed?”

“Full contact.  Anything goes.”

“In the interest of self-preservation, I would like to request that we forgo any form of blunt contact below the waist.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.  Trust me,” she teased, repeating his own words against him.  “I think you’re afraid that I’m going to be better than you.”

As a matter of fact, he _was_ afraid of that.  He was stronger, better-trained, more experienced – all of the statistics seemed to be in his favor.  However, he suspected that she was engaging in daily combat practice on Coruscant, while he hadn’t so much as swung a fist in months. 

“Shut up and fight me,” he echoed.

Once the fight was underway, it took very little time for the pair to develop a steady rhythm of attack.  They blocked and dodged and struck, never cuffing at full power but maintaining a respectable facsimile of a fight, nonetheless.  Hux had been concerned that he might find it difficult to make himself punch the girl, but she proved she was able to give and take blows with equal grace. 

He was vaguely aware of the sound of the door to the training room opening and a voice speaking.  He tuned it out as well as he could until it became obvious that the person was talking to him.

“Emperor Hux,” spoke the voice of Zolar Dremine, who was becoming quite a thorn in Hux’s side, “may I have a word with you?”

“I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment,” he grunted, dodging one of his wife’s punches.

“It’s a time-sensitive concern,” the man pleaded.

“It can surely wait a few short minutes.”

“But, Your Excellency…”

“What is it?’ Hux demanded angrily, turning abruptly to face the dignitary at the exact wrong moment.

As a result of his sudden turn, what would have otherwise been a harmless jab connected with his nose at full force.  Hux wasn’t entirely sure what had happened until he opened his eyes and saw the ceiling and a pair of worried eyes looking down at him, everything a bit blurry.  He heard the sound of Dremine’s footsteps scurrying away.  So much for the time-sensitive concern.

“Are you okay?” the girl asked hesitantly, leaning closer to him.  It slowly began to dawn on him that he was laying on the floor, sprawled out on his back.  “I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to punch you in the face.  I’m so, so sorry.  I can’t believe how much blood there is.”

Blood?  Now that she mentioned it, his face did feel oddly sticky. 

“Armitage, I think I broke your nose.”

That explained the pain, then, and the reason he felt so dizzy.  Was he concussed?  It seemed like a very real possibility.  Everything just seemed so foggy, and he couldn’t seem to open his eyes the whole way.  He felt dazed.

“Please say something.”

Hux continued to lay there silently, finding it very hard to concentrate on any one thing at all, still reeling from the blow that took him down and the subsequent fall to the ground.  Everything began to shift into focus slowly but surely.  Thoughts.  Confusion.  Pain.  Dizziness.  And on top of it all, there was something else: a realization.

“(Y/N),” he said, staring up at the girl, noticing the odd quality his voice took on with the broken nose.  He also noticed he was speaking slower than normal. “I love you.”

“I think you have a concussion.”

“Did you hear me?” he asked, closing his eyes.

“You’re not thinking straight,” she continued, trying to use her hand to wipe some of the blood off of his face.  “Just stay awake, and I’ll get a medical droid to help you.”

“Did you hear what I said?” he asked again, trying to sit up and immediately thinking better of it. 

“Stay still,” she instructed, grabbing him by the shoulders and easing him back towards the floor.  “If you try to get up too fast, you’re just going to be miserable.  I’m so sorry.”

“Woman, I am trying to tell you that I’m in love with you.  Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”

The girl finally paused.  “What was that?”

“I love you,” he repeated.  “Apparently it took a solid punch to the face for me to realize it, but I do. I love you.”

She stared at him silently for a moment.  “I would kiss you, but you have nose blood on your mouth.  You understand, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And you already know that I love you too, right?”

“Yes.”  He smiled, eyes closed to block out the light that was making his head throb.  “I’m aware of that.”

“Alright, well, I’m glad we’re finally on the same page with all of this now.”

“(Y/N).”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Will you please take me to get medical attention now?”


	32. Orders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux's injury proves to be a bigger problem than he anticipated.

The treatment for Hux’s broken nose was far from pleasant.  The break was not severe enough to warrant surgery, so it was set by hand.  Both the sound and the pain were unbearable when the bone was snapped back into place.  He was informed that his nose would be slightly crooked unless he wished to undergo cosmetic surgery.  He chose not to have any kind of surgical repair done at the risk of his overall appearance. 

The decision caused grumblings among Naboo’s vainest citizens.  Several people commented on Hux’s bravery for leaving his nose in its vaguely asymmetrical state.  However, his motivation had nothing to do with his physical appearance and everything to do with his impatience.  He simply didn’t have time to heal from a surgery.

He did, in fact, have a concussion.  It was mild, but serious enough to cause some concern.  He was ordered to rest for one to two weeks, which caused him to laugh out loud.

“Do you realize who I am?” he had wondered of the physician.  “That’s impossible.  Do you expect me to take a week off from being Emperor?”

The doctor warned that doing too much too early would only make things worse.  The recovery time would only get longer if Hux didn’t rest.  He left with painkillers, antibiotics, and an order to rest.

An unexpected upside of the concussion was an excuse not to attend another awful dinner with the wealthy elite of Naboo.  It was agreed upon by all that it would be best for him to return to Coruscant and recover in relative privacy.

“I’m sorry we had to cut the trip short,” Hux told the girl when they were aboard the Imperial shuttle that would take them home. 

“I thought you hated it there,” she pointed out.  “Why would you be sorry to leave?”

“I meant it for your sake.  You seemed like you were enjoying yourself.”

She shrugged.  “It’s only one day.”

“Yes, but now it will most likely be another week before we have a chance to speak to one another again.”

“You’ve been ordered to rest for at least a week,” she reminded him.  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“I can’t stop ruling the galaxy just because I feel a little dizzy,” he said bluntly.

She gaped at him.   “A little dizzy?  You have a concussion and a broken nose.”

“I can recover while I do my job.”

“No, you can’t.  You have a brain injury.  If you don’t rest, you’re just going to make things worse, and it’s going to take even longer for you to heal.  I’ve seen officers disobey medical orders after getting concussions, and it never ends well.”

“Do you suddenly presume to be a medical expert?”

She frowned at him.  “Why are you being so stubborn about this?  You can’t risk your health like this.”

“This is none of your concern,” Hux informed her.  “Ultimately, the decision lies with me.”

“None of my concern?  I think I’m justified as your wife to tell you it’s a horrible idea to risk permanent brain damage because you’re too obstinate to follow a doctor’s orders.  That’s what this is really about, isn’t it?  You just don’t want to follow someone else’s orders because you have to be in charge of everything all of the time.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

As a matter of fact, it was absolutely true.  He hated following orders.  Hux had spent his entire life answering to someone else.  Then he became a general, and he was finally the one giving orders.  Then, he became Emperor, and everyone else in the galaxy was placed under his command.  Obeying an order to rest felt demeaning.

“It doesn’t make you weak to care about your health,” the girl told him.  “It makes you sensible.”

Ultimately, Hux found that he had no option other than to rest.  The first day of attempting to carry out his usual activities made that very clear.  He very nearly passed out during a briefing meeting with his council, and the painkillers prevented him from thinking straight.  His mind wandered, and he found it difficult to focus on anything for an extended period of time.  On top of it all, the light hurt his eyes so much that it was hard to keep them open.  All he wanted to do was lie down in a dark room.

The next day, that was what he did.  He spent the entire day in bed with his eyes closed, trying to will away the concussion.

That was the first day that he had ever been present when the girl returned for the evening.  He felt the mattress sink down next to him as she took a seat on the bed. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Perfectly awful,” he informed her, uncovering his face.  He was glad to see that she hadn’t turned the lights back on. 

“You look perfectly awful,” she teased.

“It’s too dark for you to see me.”

“Call it intuition, then.”

“I’m not in the mood for joking,” he said.  “I hope you understand.”

“That’s fine.  Do you think you’re doing any better today?”

“Not particularly.  Although, this is much more preferable than trying to maintain my normal schedule.”

For the next several days, he remained in bed, desperately wishing for recovery.  He just wanted to be well enough to return to his duties.  Occasionally, Kylo Ren would turn up with an important question or decision that needed the Emperor’s approval, but other than that, no business was conducted.

Hux began to realize that he had been overtaxing himself during his time in charge.  There were tasks he now saw could be delegated and others that could be done away with entirely.  There were people whose positions served no real purpose.  Being out of commission proved to be an eye-opening experience for Hux.

The day that Hux prepared to resume his responsibilities, the girl watched him carefully as he got ready.  She scrutinized his every move, as if to make sure he was really and truly recovered.  She was especially watchful as he shaved several days’ worth of stubble from his face, obviously doubting his ability to safely utilize a razor. 

Overall, he felt much better.  The dizziness and lack of focus had gone away, and all that was left was a bad headache.  He looked much worse than he felt.  He had two black eyes from the broken nose that had not yet faded, and he looked thinner and paler than normal.  Perhaps the girl hadn’t been joking as much as he had presumed when she had told him he looked awful.

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” she asked as he combed back his hair.

“Yes, it’s been over a week.”

“Shouldn’t you have some sort of medical exam to make sure you’re fit for work?”

“I feel much better,” Hux assured her.  “I wouldn’t be returning to my duties if I didn’t feel up to the task.”

She ultimately accepted his decision, but she didn’t seem at all happy about it.

Hux pulled on his jacket and made his way down to the council room.  If everything went according to plan, serious changes were going to be made that day.


	33. Dissent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren presents Hux with more propaganda and some information concerning Daykal Locgra.

“Have you seen this?” Kylo Ren asked, shoving a poster in Hux’s direction.

“Another one?” he groaned, looking at the piece of propaganda held out in front of him.

“There are more.”  Ren handed him a stack of pamphlets and papers, all bearing some form or another of nasty remarks against the Empire.  “You’ll be happy to know that several of them include jokes about your broken nose.”

“Of course they do.  I wouldn’t expect anything less from the upscale citizens of Coruscant.” Hux rolled his eyes in aggravation.

“It also seems word has gotten around that the girl was the one who injured you because spousal battery seems to be a recurring theme in most of these.  The gist of it seems to be that you’re so weak and ineffectual as a leader that a woman can beat you up.”

“That seems to be a bit sexist, don’t you think?” Hux remarked.

“It’s anti-government propaganda.  Do you expect it to be wholesome and kind?”

“No, but it _is_ very convenient that they were able to gloss over the fact that my wife is a trained military combatant.”

“I’ll write a letter to the editor,” Ren sneered.

“What else is there?”

“There’s a particularly nasty handout being passed around that attempts to link your wife to the Resistance.  It includes some nice jokes about you as well.  There’s one in particular about your impotence that made me laugh.”

“Impotence?”

“Lack of effectiveness as a leader _and_ an inability to become sexually aroused – it’s amazing what these people do with double-meanings,” Ren mused.  “Some of them really should have become authors instead of Rebels.”

“Do you really think this is Rebel propaganda?” Hux asked.  He had just assumed the material was being published by various dissidents.  The Resistance being behind the operation seemed like a bit of a stretch of the imagination.

“I’m not sure what to think,” Kylo Ren admitted.  “Speaking of Rebels, though, I have word on our friend Daykal Locgra.”

“What did you find out?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

Hux frowned.  “You thought it pertinent to bring up the topic, and you tell me you have _nothing_ on him?”

“Right before the war went into full swing, he disappeared,” Ren explained.  “There’s no record of him anywhere for the duration.  It’s like he stopped existing until he showed back up on Naboo a few months ago.  There’s nothing to link him to the Resistance.  On the flip side of that, there’s also nothing to prove he was selling weapons.  In fact, the lack of record there almost proves that he _wasn’t_ an arms dealer, at least not to the First Order.  If he was actually arming the military, it wasn’t ours.”

“You think he was selling weapons to the Resistance.”

“I think it’s a very real possibility.  I can’t prove anything, though.  What I can tell you is that he has a reason to hate you now.  He’s ultimately looking out for himself, and he was embarrassed in front of some very important people.”

“Good to know,” Hux sighed.  “Is there anything else?”

“Besides the fact that there seems to be a constantly growing population on Coruscant of people who despise you, I think that covers everything I have to share today.”


	34. Unwell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is very wrong.

“Are you alright?” Hux asked, stepping into the refresher where his wife was lurched over the toilet.

“I think I’m getting sick.”

“That seems like a reasonable assumption, considering the fact that you’re vomiting.  Do you need medical attention?”

“No, I think I can tough it out,” she told him.  “I’ve felt bad the last several days, but the vomiting is new this morning.”

“You didn’t tell me you felt ill.”  Hux was slightly hurt by the fact that she hadn’t bothered to mention it to him.

“It hasn’t been serious,” she explained.  “I’ve just felt kind of tired and achy.  This is the first major symptom I’ve had.”

“Well, if you aren’t better tomorrow, I suggest you do something about it.”

The next day was not better.  Hux awoke to find that the girl was not in bed with him.  He wandered to the refresher, where he found her in the same position as the day before.  Growing worried about her, he insisted that she seek medical attention.

“If I still feel sick tomorrow, I’ll talk to a doctor,” she promised.  “I think I’m getting better, though.”

“It doesn’t make you weak to care about your health,” he informed her, garnering a sneer from the girl when she realized he was quoting her.  “It makes you sensible.”

“Tomorrow.  I promise.”

When the same situation arose the next day, Hux personally escorted her to the Imperial Palace’s medical facility before attending to his daily responsibilities.  He was irritated with her for being so obstinate after she had dared to reprimand him for trying to neglect his health.  Now she was attempting to do the same thing he had.

Hux couldn’t spend the day worrying about her, though.  He had a galaxy to rule, after all.  There were meetings to attend, policies to enact, problems to address.  Even though he had begun to delegate and prioritize the tasks at hand, his schedule was still incredibly busy.  There wasn’t time to dwell on thoughts that didn’t pertain to maintaining order in the Empire.

Throughout the day, however, he caught his thoughts drifting to the girl.  He wondered if she was alright, if something was wrong with her.  His worry distracted him, which he found quite irritating.  Was this an unfortunate side effect of being in love?  He didn’t have the experience to say for sure.  If so, it was an inconvenient one, to say the least.

Hux had never entertained many thoughts on the topic of romance.  He hadn’t every planned to marry.  His own parents’ failed marriage had put a bad taste in his mouth, and he had been unable to see any sense in the institution.  Then he married the girl, and all of his preconceived notions seemed to fall apart.  Suddenly, he wanted her to be happy, and he started to care what she thought of him.  Slowly but surely, he fell for her.  Everything he thought he knew about love was being proved wrong.

Now, something was getting in the way of her happiness, and he found himself unable to stand for it.

He managed to keep his thoughts in order long enough to get through the last duty of the day, glad when he was finally able to return to his chambers.  There, he found his wife in the bedroom, presumably staring out the window as he had seen her do so many times.

Hux himself had once tried gazing out at the city, hoping to see whatever it was that so often caught her attention.  All he saw was the skyline and the haze of city lights.  He had hoped to find some kind of window into her mind.  If he could see what she saw, maybe he could know what she thought.  It was disappointing when he found nothing more than a rather pleasant view of Coruscant.

When he walked closer to where she stood, he saw that her arms were crossed and her shoulders hunched.  This time, she wasn’t looking out at the city.  She was looking down at the floor.

“How are you?” Hux asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him but said nothing. 

Over the years, Hux had learned to recognize fear.  He had seen it in many places.  It was there in the eyes of officers who found themselves in the heat of battle for the first time.  It could be recognized in the expressions of villagers whose homes were being raided.  He had seen it in his own eyes enough times growing up as well.

The girl was afraid.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, worried about her.

She wrapped her arms tighter around herself, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Is this about something the doctor told you?  (Y/N), tell me what’s wrong.  Are you ill?”

She remained silent.

“(Y/N), you’re worrying me,” he told her.  “Something is wrong, isn’t it?”

She sighed and looked out the window before turning to face him.  The fear in her eyes seemed to grow as she prepared to speak.  Sounding like she was mustering up all of the courage she possessed, she told him softly, “Armitage, I’m pregnant.”


	35. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux reacts to the news about his wife's pregnancy... and other aspects of her life.

“Are you sure?” That was the first thing Hux managed to say upon hearing the news.

She nodded.  “I was tested today. Apparently the vomiting was morning sickness.”

“How long?”

“The doctor said it’s been a month.”

Hux did the math in his head. “That would mean…”

She nodded again.  “Naboo.”

Something still wasn’t adding up.  “How is this even possible?  Standard First Order procedure dictates that all female officers be administered hormonal suppressants.  It should be almost physically impossible for you to conceive.  There is a 1% chance of ineffectuality.”

“There was a problem with the changeover in the system.  The suppressors were implanted as part of a routine health screening.  They haven’t done the screenings since the First Order became the Imperial Military.  Since the implant dissolves, it’s possible to get pregnant once it’s out of the bloodstream.”

“Does that mean other officers are turning up pregnant?”

“To be fair, lots of them are having children intentionally now that the war is over.  The rest have probably been more proactive with their suppressants than I have.  Considering I wasn’t sexually active, it wasn’t a priority.  I didn’t notice that I had skipped a period because I didn’t have one while I was on the hormone inhibitors.”

“Oh.”

“I know you didn’t want this to happen,” she sighed, folding in on herself even further.

Hux stiffened.  “What gave you that idea?  I’ve never even spoken about the prospect of having a child.”

“Exactly.  If you wanted to have a baby, you would have said so.  Besides, I’ve never seen you interact with a kid.  You don’t like them.  You don’t even talk about yourself when _you_ were a kid.  It’s pretty obvious that you’re not interested in being a father.”

Being a father.  The words struck Hux with more force than he was prepared for.  He was in no way fit to raise a child.  He didn’t know the first thing about infant care or how to act around children.  He had never been in situations in which children were present.  He had hardly ever been a child himself.

“I’m… I…”  He couldn’t find words to convey the emotions he was feeling.  He wanted to tell her he was happy, but was he really?  He was more terrified than anything – terrified and regretful that he hadn’t gone to greater measures to prevent knocking the girl up.

No, that made it sound so vulgar.  He couldn’t think about it that way.  Hux hadn’t _knocked the girl up_.  They were married and very much in love.  This was a good thing.  It was, wasn’t it?  Wasn’t it good?  Hux needed someone to tell him it was good, and that it wasn’t going to ruin their lives.  He needed to hear that it wasn’t going to make him resent the girl.  Above all that, he needed someone to tell him he wasn’t going to turn into his father.

“Everything is going to change, I suppose,” he noted, finally coming up with something to say.  As the words left his mouth, he realized how stupid and empty they sounded.

“Yeah.”  She was staring at the floor again.

“Well, fortunately, we have every possible resource in the galaxy available to us with which to raise a child,” he said in what he hoped sounded like a reassuring voice.  “It could be much worse.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be happy.”

“I am happy,” he insisted, lying through his teeth.

“No, you aren’t.”

“No, I’m not,” Hux finally admitted.  “It’s not because I’m angry or because I don’t want to have a child with you, though.  I’m just a bit… shocked.  That’s all.”

“That makes two of us,” she mumbled.

“Right. You,” he suddenly realized.  He felt very selfish for thinking so much about his own feelings on the matter when she was the one who had just found out she was harboring another human being inside of her.  “How do you feel about all of this?  Are you alright?”

“I’m scared,” she confessed, her voice small and far-off sounding.  “Not just about being pregnant, but also about the fact that everyone in the galaxy is going to have their eyes on me.  The things people say about me already are bad enough.  The anti-Empire propaganda floating around hasn’t been painting me in the most flattering light.”

 “I didn’t realize you were aware of that.”

“I would have to be blind not to notice.  Just imagine what they’re going to say about this,” she sighed.  “I’m sure I’ll be called every derogatory name they can come up with.”

“I imagine they’ll choose the cuckoldry as their topic of choice,” Hux guessed.  “That way, they can attack both of us at once.  I assume they’ll insinuate that you’re having the illegitimate child of a Resistance pilot or some equally ridiculous rumor.  The favored accusation against you seems to be that you have ties to the Republic.”

“Well, I guess I do,” she said, giving him a strange look.

“Excuse me?”

“Didn’t you know that?  I was born and raised in the Resistance.  That’s why my First Order file was missing records.  As far as anyone outside of the Resistance knows, I was never even born.  I just appeared one day after shooting down two Resistance pilots.  Everyone seems to gloss over the fact that I was in an X-wing myself.”

Hux slowly began to recognize the feeling bubbling up in the pit of his stomach as anger.  A thousand thoughts raced through his head all at once.  How could he have been such a fool?  Why hadn’t she told him?  Surely, someone should have bothered to mention it at some point.  Had no one thought to bring it up to him before he married the girl?  Someone knew about this.  That, or someone had been covering it up.

“I wasn’t keeping this a secret from you.  I was under the impression that it was common knowledge.”

Puzzle pieces that hadn’t fit anywhere previously suddenly locked into place.  The public knew about it before he did.  That’s what the propaganda had been about.  What he thought was against him and his authority was actually about his wife.  Someone had been trying to warn him all along.

“If it was common knowledge, why have I never heard about this before?” he growled.  “Why was a Resistance traitor allowed into the First Order?  How did this happen under my command?”

“I’m loyal to the First Order,” she said defensively, “and now to the New Galactic Empire.  Haven’t I made that clear?  I’ve told you a million times that I’ll do whatever it takes to uphold the Empire.  _I married you_ for the sake of your administration.  If I wasn’t completely devoted to everything you’re doing here on Coruscant and in the rest of the galaxy, do you think I would be standing here today?  I was terrified of you; I would never have agreed to marry you if I didn’t think it was for the greater good.  My feelings have obviously changed since then, but my loyalty hasn’t wavered.  _I’m pregnant with your child!_ ”

“How do I know this isn’t an elaborate scheme?”

“I left the Resistance when I was fifteen.  The pilots I shot down were my parents I sealed their death sentence by flagging down First Order TIE fighters.  As an officer, I helped orchestrate the destruction of almost every person and place I ever saw growing up.  If I was working for the Resistance, I was doing a terrible job.”

“Why were you allowed to become an officer in the first place?” Hux demanded.  “I didn’t sign off on that.”

“I had inside information on the Resistance, and if I was willing to let the people I cared about die, then it was assumed that I was no friend to the Republic.  I led the Order to secret military bases, and I knew the ships forward and backward.  I was too valuable to get rid of.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Strange words coming from the man who constantly reminds me to trust him,” she mused.

Finally, Hux realized the stupidity of his fear and anger.  If she was still working for the Resistance, she was failing miserably.  The worst possible way to support the reconstruction of a Galactic Republic was to marry, fuck, and fall in love with the figurehead of the enemy regime.  The girl wasn’t stupid.  Everything she did, she did to support the Empire.  “Whatever it takes,” she had told him so many times. 

If anything, this new information proved she was a fiercer ally to the Empire than he had ever realized.  So many of Hux’s supporters were either leftovers from the Old Empire or those who grew up in its ashes.  They knew nothing else – Hux included.  This girl had seen the other side.  She had been indoctrinated with the values of the Resistance from birth, and still she had seen that the First Order had so much more to offer than her upbringing ever could.  She was proof of his military’s superiority, of his Empire’s superiority.  This girl had _chosen_ her path.

 _Snoke trusts her,_ he suddenly remembered.  The Supreme Leader, the one who ruled from the shadows using Hux as the face of his governance, trusted the girl.  He had no qualms about Hux marrying her.  In fact, he had thought it a good idea.  Had he sensed something about the girl?  Was he aware of her extreme loyalty?  Hux thought it very likely, and he realized Snoke certainly knew about the girl’s past.  What else was he being kept in the dark about by the Empire’s secretive, behind-the-scenes ruler?

While Hux submitted to the Supreme Leader’s authority, he resented it.  He always had.  The one thing Hux had always wanted was power.  Now he had it, but it was only a façade.  The real power rested in Snoke’s hands.  He would have given anything to finally grasp absolute authority.  It was so close, yet so far away.  The idea of all the information potentially being kept from him was infuriating.

Hux pondered everything that was happening. His position. The girl. This child. The Empire. Snoke. It all left him feeling miserably powerless.  Furthermore, it all led him to the same conclusion…

It was time to take control – full control – once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know some things about this chapter don't quite add up. For instance, how didn't Hux know about her past? What does it mean that he's going to take control? What's up with that backstory? Questions like these aren't going to be left unanswered, but will come to fruition later on. Don't worry. I didn't slap this chapter together without thinking about it first.


	36. Solidarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux shares his scheme.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Hux said, taking a seat on the sofa in his chambers.

Kylo Ren was seated on the other side of a low table in the same chair he had occupied the morning of Hux’s wedding. He lounged there comfortably as if he owned the place. “Why this particular location?”

Hux gave no answer but regarded Ren with suspicion. Could he trust this man? Ren had been an ally in the past, but the Knight was also notoriously loyal to Snoke. Did Hux really have a choice, though? Kylo Ren was the only hope he had of carrying out his plan.

Ren glanced around the room. “Hmm… no cameras,” he observed. “You have something up your sleeve. I’m intrigued.”

Hux scanned Ren’s face, hoping to find some answer there. He recalled being told as a child that a liquid changed shape to fit whatever container it was poured into. The thought passed through Hux’s mind that the same idea very much applied to Ren. The Force-user always took up as much space as the situation he was in allowed – in terms of both personality and physical presence. The bigger the room, the bigger Ren made himself. The greater the potential for power, the more authoritative he became. Perhaps Hux could use that quality to his advantage.

"Are you going to tell me why I’m here, or are you just going to keep undressing me with your eyes?” Ren mused with a smug frown.

"You’re not my type,” His shot back blandly. “Tell me, Ren, are you happy with your current position?”

“The position in which you ask me cryptic questions and refuse to tell me why I’m here? I can’t say I’m overjoyed.”

"Your position in life,” Hux clarified.

“You want me to help you kill Snoke.”

Hux tensed. “I never said that.”

"You didn’t have to,” Kylo Ren said with a roll of his eyes. “Why else would you have asked me to meet you in the one place in the entire Imperial Palace that doesn’t have a recorded security feed? I can feel your hunger, your resolve, your fear. You want to be the one in charge. You want the Supreme Leader dead so you can finally have the power you crave. You project your emotions with the abandon of a child. You’re not hiding anything.”

"You’ve grown powerful,” Hux observed. “You know that he senses it. It’s only a matter of time before you become a threat to him. You have to eliminate him before he casts you aside.”

“You’ve always been disturbingly fond of killing off your rivals.”

“I don’t think you’re in any place to be taking the moral high ground,” Hux said defensively. “You’ve committed your fair share of atrocities.”

“True. Who among us hasn’t killed his own father? Oh, that’s right. You had someone else do it for you.”

“I have no regrets. Can you say the same?”

“You’re too self-important for regrets,” Ren snapped. “However, you’re lucky that I sympathize with you on the matter of Snoke, or you would be in a world of trouble. I agree; it’s time for him to go. Putting that idea into execution, on the other hand…”

“I already have a plan.”

“And I can already tell you that whatever plan you have isn’t going to work. This isn’t one of your space battles, Hux. You’re not going to win with some technological feat or military might. It’s just not going to work. I know how you operate, and you think you can achieve victory by having the element of surprise on your side. You can’t take Snoke by surprise, though. You just can’t.”

“That’s why my strategy requires being completely and utterly predictable.”

“What do you have in mind?” Ren cocked an eyebrow. Hux had his attention.

"We bomb his ship.”

“Bomb his ship?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

Ren frowned. “That’s the most idiotic idea I’ve ever heard.”

“And that’s why it’s going to work.”

"Are you out of your mind?” Kylo Ren demanded with exasperation. “That’s the best you could come up with?”

“I came up with an entire collection of well-thought-out, inventive plans. They were nothing short of genius, if I dare say so. However, I quickly came to the conclusion that none of them had any hope of succeeding.”

"This is complete insanity. It’s nothing short of suicide.”

“Perhaps a bit of insanity is what we need right now.”

Kylo Ren began to nod, a conspiratorial grin spreading across his scarred face. “I like it. It’s just stupid enough to work.”

The two men stared at each other in silence. Hux was debating whether or not he had made the right decision by letting Ren in on his plan. Either this was going to finally put him on top, or it was all going to blow up in his face. He wasn’t sure yet which it would be, but he could tell Ren was thinking the same thing.

Suddenly, both men jumped to their feet. Kylo Ren ignited his lightsaber, and Hux's hand reached for the blaster he still kept holstered at his side like he did when he was General. The sound of the door opening had put both of them on high alert. Instinctively, they had both poised themselves to take out anyone who threatened the secrecy of their meeting.

Ren put his saber away when he saw that the intruder was Hux’s wife, but Hux’s hand lingered a little longer on the handle of his weapon. He had decided to believe the girl’s story about her resistance ties, but there was something about her explanation that didn’t add up. Everything had been brushed off so easily – too easily. Reluctantly, he let go of the blaster and glanced at his co-conspirator.

Kylo Ren had a strange look on his face, one of confusion, as he looked at the girl. His eyes fluttered closed for a brief moment. Whatever he felt, he shook it off and extended his hand to the girl. She flinched at first, as if fearing he would strike her, but she hesitantly reached out to grab it when she realized he was trying to shake her hand.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Ren acknowledged with a nod.

“He told you?” she wondered aloud, looking at Hux with disappointment.

“Oh, no, your husband was perfectly dutiful in his secret keeping.”

“Then how…”

"The Force moves around you differently than it once did. I sense the presence of new life.”

She looked at Ren with awe. Hux realized it must have been her first time seeing that kind of power up close. Hux had encountered it too many times to be impressed anymore, and he had little respect for that kind of sorcery.

When she had left the room, Ren turned to Hux and spoke. “So much tension. I suggest you make amends with her. Whatever you’re fighting about won’t be kept private for long.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but it has already been made public. It seems, in fact, that I’m the last to know.”

"What are you talking about?”

“The Resistance. Did you know about this?” Hux interrogated.

“Know about what?”

“Did you know that my wife defected from the Resistance?”

Kylo looked at him with surprise. “I think you’ve been reading too much propaganda.”

“She told me herself,” he sighed with a shake of his head. “Someone enlisted her without my permission or knowledge.”

“She served the First Order well,” Ren pointed out with an indifferent frown. “She was consistently loyal. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Are you serious? There’s a glaring problem. The system was flawed. Someone was a traitor. If it wasn’t the girl, then it was the person who assigned her to the ranks. This was done behind my back.”

“Think of her as a replacement for the stormtrooper who deserted.”

Believing such an asinine comment didn’t warrant a proper response, Hux glared at him.

“Who else knows about this?” Ren inquired.

“The information is out there for anyone to see. It’s just a matter of whether or not the public chooses to believe it.”

“The format it’s been released in might be our saving grace, then.”

“Our?”

"Of course. I’m just as mixed up in all of this as you are,” Kylo Ren informed him.

“How so?”

“It's all related. Snoke. The girl. Even Locgra.”

Hux sneered. “Did the Force tell you this?” he asked facetiously.

“Don’t be obstinate. It’s just a hunch, but it’s a strong hunch.”

“It was a hunch that led you to abandon a BB unit containing the map to Skywalker in favor of a scavenger girl who left you unconscious in the snow,” Hux reminded the other man.

“Now she’s as dead as the rest of the Rebel scum. That’s beside the point. I have a feeling about this. Trust me.”

As much as he hated it, he found that he did trust Kylo Ren. He had despised the Knight for as long as he could remember, but there was now solidarity where he once felt animosity. He always viewed Ren as a threat to his power, but he now saw that Ren had power of his own, power Hux could never dream of grasping. Strangely enough, he was okay with that.

He and Ren were two halves of the same whole. Hux provided the innovative, intellectual, and practical aspects, while Ren contributed brute force and something more abstractly spiritual than what Hux could supply. For the first time, Hux realized that they needed each other.

For years, Snoke had pitted them against each other, playing favorites and instigating squabbles between the two. The Supreme Leader had known that he would be no match for them if they worked together. That was why he kept them at odds. When they argued, they were safe. When they were combined, there would be a deadly chemical reaction.

 _But not anymore_ , Hux knew. Now they were a team, and Snoke didn’t stand a chance.


	37. Urgency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies, revelations, etc.

Hux was sitting in bed with a stack of briefing documents in his hands. He saw the girl approaching out of the corner of his eye and fixed his gaze firmly on the papers in front of him.

“I hardly think that’s fair,” he mumbled ill-spiritedly.

She rolled her eyes. “Hmm, you’re one to talk.” 

“Do you think this is going to convince me of something?”

She got into bed and scooted close to him. The silky material of her slip – that same one she wore the night of their wedding – brushed against his arm and he fought back the shiver that threatened to quake through his body. He knew what she was doing, and it wasn’t going to work. 

“Seducing me isn’t going to change anything,” he told her defiantly, already feeling his resolve beginning to weaken.

“Oh, I’m not trying to seduce you,” she said with a sly smile. “I’m really not interested after the way you’ve been acting towards me lately. You’re delusional if you think I’m actually going to have sex with you.”

“Then what’s the point of all this?” he said, only halfway paying attention to what he was reading. 

“You haven’t spoken to me in two days. I had to get your attention somehow. Looks like it worked.”

“Are you trying to use sex as a weapon?” he inquired, feigning disinterest. 

“No, do you expect me to pine for you all the time?”

“No, but I’m not the one stroking my spouse's thigh while insisting that I’m not in the mood.” He continued to look at his papers, but Hux was very aware of her hand on his leg. He wasn’t sure what she was trying to accomplish, but it had him on edge in more ways than one. “Do you think I have no control over my libido?”

“I think you respond to  sex in a way you don’t respond to other things. You like to think you’re practical and composed, but sex is the one way you really let yourself lose control.”

“I think you’re wrong about that.”

“Am I?”

“Sex is just as much about control to me as any other aspect of my life is,” he told her matter-of-factly. 

“Are you saying it’s about dominance?” she asked.

“No, not dominance, control. It has to be precise.”

“Are you saying you have a battle plan when you fuck me?”

“Yes.”

She frowned. “I can’t believe you.”

“I’ve never heard you complain about it,” he grumbled. 

“Whatever. I’m just glad you’re finally talking to me.”

“I don’t think you have much room to say that.”

“Is this about the Resistance thing?”

“What else would it be about?” Hux snapped at her, removing her hand from his leg. “What other thing could it possibly be about?”

“I already told you that it’s not a big deal!”

“Strangely enough, I consider it to be quite a big deal. I never knew about it, and I was the  _General of the First Order._ If anyone knew about it, it should have been me.”

“I think I get it,” she said, nodding. “It’s not about the Resistance thing. You’re just insulted that no one told you and you feel left out.”

She was more right than Hux cared to admit. Still, something about her story felt wrong to him. 

“I know you aren’t going to give up on this.”  She placed her hands on either side of his face and traced his cheekbones with her fingers. “You’re too stubborn.”

He closed his eyes as her fingers roamed his face, and he gave up on the briefing documents, laying them down in his lap.

“You look tired,” she remarked. 

“I’ve been worse.”

One of her thumbs brushed across the bridge of his nose. “Your nose is crooked.”

“I know.”

“Does it still hurt from when I broke it?” 

“No,” Hux told her with a shrug, “not really.”

“I’m sorry I punched you in the face.”

“Me too," he said with a smile.  He knew she was still upset about knocking him out, which he found quite humorous considering he was the one who had suffered the concussion.  If anyone should have been upset, it was him, but he wasn't particularly bothered by it.

Her hands moved to the sides of his face. “You know, these sideburns are kind of ridiculous.”

His eyes flashed open and his hands darted to where hers were. “Really?” He suddenly felt quite self-conscious.  It was a grooming choice he had committed himself to some years prior, and this was the first time someone had made a comment.

She rolled her eyes and pushed his hands away. “Yes, but it’s a good look for you.”

“Are you saying that  _I_ look ridiculous?”

“No, I’m saying that they work for you, but I think they would look pretty stupid on anyone else. Your hair is kind of ridiculous too.” To prove her point, she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.  "Maybe you should go for a more casual style – something less uptight," she suggested jokingly.  "This makes you look like you care too much."

"Maybe I do care too much."

"I think that's true," she grinned, ruffling his hair until she decided it was adequately messy.

His sighed. “I love you.”

“Yeah, I know you do. Even if you’re really lousy at showing it.”

“I’m sorry I stopped speaking to you. That was childish of me.”

“Yeah,” she said, “it really was.”

“I’m still concerned about-“

“I know. You’re not going to let it go.”

His suddenly thought of something that seemed very important. 

“(Y/N), who was your enlisting officer?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“Who was the officer who gave you a position in the First Order instead of turning you in?”

“Captain Peavey,” she informed him

Peavey? No, that couldn’t be right. Peavey was a loyalist if there ever was one, a leftover from the days of the Old Empire. He was a relic, but he was trustworthy. He served on Hux’s Imperial Council. He wouldn’t do something that rash. Would he?

Hux rushed to the closet and started pulling on clothes, not particularly caring which articles he chose.

“Where are you going?” the girl asked. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“I need to speak with Kylo Ren immediately. It’s urgent.”


	38. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and Kylo Ren try to make connections with the information they have.

“I was sleeping.  What’s this all about?” Kylo Ren complained, walking groggily through the entrance to Hux’s Imperial chambers and removing his helmet.

“It’s urgent,” Hux told him, ushering him to the sitting area they had met in previously.

“Yes, the messenger told me as much.  But why am I here?”

“I found out something important.”

“In the middle of the night?” Ren was clearly not impressed with the timing.

“Yes.”

“What could you have possibly learned at this time of –”

“Edrison Peavey,” Hux said.

That was enough to entice Ren.  “What about Peavey?” he asked curiously.

“Peavey was the one who enlisted the girl without my permission.  It was Captain Peavey.”

“Wasn’t he your second-in-command?”

“He was the commanding officer of the _Finalizer_ when I wasn’t present.  He currently serves on my advisory council.  He was a founding figure of the First Order.  By all accounts, he should be trustworthy.”

“But he hasn’t been.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Hux agreed.  “I think he’s a significant piece of our puzzle.”

Ren cocked an eyebrow.  “What do you mean?”

“He was dissident.  If he was going behind my back years ago, he could have been going behind my back up until the end of the war.  Who’s to say he’s not doing it now?”

“Where does this fit in?”

“This is going to sound far-fetched,” Hux warned in advance, “but I have a theory.”

“I’ve been known to come up with a few wild theories of my own.”

“It might sound like I’m trying too hard to come up with a connection where there isn’t one, and that could very well be the case.  However, I think Peavey is working with the remaining Resistance.  I think he has ties with Locgra.  I don’t have the proper information to support this, but something about it feels intuitively right..”

“You’re right,” Ren said flatly.  “It’s a wild guess, and you don’t have anything to back it up.”

Hux frowned.  He had expected Ren to be on board with his idea, especially considering what they had discussed during their last meeting.

“Luckily for you, though,” Kylo Ren continued, “I have evidence that supports part of that theory.”

“You have my attention.”

“Edrison Peavey and Daykal Locgra are more connected than you realize.  Everyone with any stake in the Old Empire is connected in one way or another, but I don’t have to tell you that.  You know that better than anyone does.  It was inevitable that someone with a family legacy like Locgra would have important connections in the First Order, especially considering he was in the Imperial Academy.  This is on another level, though.  Peavey is Locgra’s uncle.”

“So we can connect the names.  Can we tie Locgra to the Resistance?”

“No, that’s what I’m still missing,” Ren admitted.  “I know he disappeared after the fall of the Old Empire, and he turned up again just before the end of the war.  I suspect he went by a fake name to avoid suspicion.  The Locgras are part of an Imperial tradition.  His family would have been furious if they found out he was taking part in the Resistance.”

“That seems like a logical assumption.”

“As for Peavey, it seems to me that he just wanted to spite you.”

“Perhaps,” Hux allowed.  “Perhaps not, though.  Is it possible that Peavey knew?”

“Hmm?”

“Peavey would have been suspicious that his Imperially trained nephew wasn’t a part of the First Order, the military he himself helped build.  He was trying to cover it up somehow.”

“It’s possible, but what does that have to do with the girl?  For that matter, what does any of this have to do with her?” Ren asked.

A small voice spoke up from the door leading to the bedroom.  “I think I might be able to help with that.”


	39. Intrusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux puts his foot down, and perhaps steps over the line.

Hux turned slowly to look at the girl.  “How much of that did you hear?”

“All of it,” she told him unashamedly.

“This conversation doesn’t concern you.  It’s not your place to—”

“If you have any sense of self-preservation, you won’t finish that sentence,” she informed him bluntly, walking over to the sitting area.  “I’m not about to let you tell me what my place is.  That’s not up to you to decide. You may be Emperor, but I’m your wife, and you don’t get to boss me around just because you feel like it.  Besides, you’re lucky I was listening because it sounds like this conversation is my business as much as it is yours.  I know a thing or two that’ll help you out quite a bit.”

“You aren’t a part of this,” he informed her sternly.  “This is a confidential matter, and I’m going to insist that you leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“(Y/N),” Hux warned.

“No.”

“Get out,” he ordered.  “Now.”

“I’m not leaving until I say what needs to be said.”

“Enough,” Hux snapped at her.  “As your superior officer, I…”

She stared at him in shocked silence as he trailed off.  He realized his mistake as soon as he had started the sentence.  He had gotten so wrapped up in telling her what her place was that he had forgotten his own.  Hux had gone too far. 

“Is that how you think of me?” she asked quietly, tears welling up in her eyes.  “Do you still view me as an inferior after all this time?”

“(Y/N), I don’t-”

“Whatever.”

He attempted to place a hand on her shoulder, but she ducked out of the way.  He withdrew his hand and frowned.

Hux sighed.  “I still have to ask that you leave.”

“Hux,” Kylo Ren said softly with a gentle shake of his head.  “Give it a rest.”

“(Y/N), leave.”

“Hux, that’s enough,” Ren said more loudly.  “I don’t want to get involved in whatever domestic dispute this has turned into, but we have important things to discuss.”

“Yes, _confidential_ things.”

“(Y/N), you’re welcome to stay.  Any insight you have will be helpful.”

“She shouldn’t be involved in this,” Hux insisted.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but she already is.  In fact, she seems to be tied up in this just as much as you or me.”

“She isn’t part of the plan,” Hux reminded him.

“Why can’t she be?” Ren asked.  “She might be useful.  It would be helpful to have someone trustworthy on our side for this.”

“ _Because it’s dangerous!_ ” Hux shouted. 

Ren and the girl both gaped at him.

“She shouldn’t be involved,” Hux repeated.  “The less she knows, the safer she is.  Need I remind you that (Y/N) is pregnant?  Am I the only one concerned about that?”

“If this – whatever ‘this’ is – is dangerous,” the girl pointed out, “and you’re mixed up in it, then I’m already in danger by association.  What harm can there be in telling you what I know?”

“Fine,” he relented.  “Say whatever it is that you came in here to tell us.”

Hux sat back down, and it did not escape his notice that she took the seat farthest away from him.

“Well,” she began.  “I suppose I should start at the beginning.”


	40. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl divulges what she knows, and Hux decides the next step. It's time for action.

"I think laying out Locgra's timeline will be the most useful way of going about this," the girl said.

"So, was he really a weapons dealer?" Kylo Ren asked for clarification 

The girl nodded.  "Yes.  Well... sort of.  He used a fake name and a disguise, but he was working for a weapon's dealer running all sorts of nasty stuff across the galaxy.  The people he was working for were selling to both sides, and he was really there to get intel on the Resistance and feed it to Peavey, his uncle."

"That was never approved," Hux remarked.  "Edrison Peavey didn't have clearance to send out spies.  This was completely illicit."

"There was some kind of debt Locgra owed him.  He had gotten his nephew out of a tricky situation or something.  I was never completely clear on the details there.  Peavey wanted to get ahead in the First Order.  So, he took care of two problems at once and got Locgra to feed him information.  Apparently, it was going pretty well for him until he lost contact with his nephew."

"Lost contact?" Hux asked with surprise.

"The weapons dealers kept turning up with shipments, but Daykal Locgra stopped showing up with them.  Peavey couldn't get in touch anymore.  Turns out, after gathering so much intelligence on the Resistance, Locgra had decided he liked things better over there and fell in with them.  Like I said, he had a fake name and a disguise, so no one recognized him.  No one knew that he was a former informant."

"Do you know what name he was going by?" Ren inquired.

 "Jalcor Lodefri," the girl informed him.  "I actually met him a few times before I defected.  He looked a lot different then.  He had long hair and a beard, and he always wore a pair of goggles that he said he needed to see.  No one ever really saw much of his face.  When he showed up on Naboo, I didn't recognize him.  Something about him seemed  _familiar_ , though.  That's why I kept staring at him.  I swore I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't place him.  I have a lurking suspicion that he recognized me, though."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Hux asked.  If she had already figured it out, why hadn't she told him?  If it was supposedly common knowledge that the girl had come from the Resistance, what could it hurt for her to reveal that she recognized him?

"I didn't put it all together until I heard you two talking just now.  When you said that Peavey is Locgra's uncle, everything suddenly made sense," she explained.  "When I shot down the X-wings and signaled the First Order, I got captured.  Troopers took my parents who knows where, and Peavey took me to an interrogation room.  I expected to be questioned about Resistance secrets, which I was more than willing to give up in exchange for a place in the First Order."

Hux paled.  Peavey had been interrogating prisoners without authorization.  What else had he been doing behind Hux's back?

The girl continued, "Instead, Peavey kept asking me about Jalcor Lodefri.  Did I know that name?  Was he safe?  Had he joined the Resistance?  He kept hounding me about that sort of thing.  He wasn't afraid to use the shock instruments on the interrogation chair, either.  He finally eased up when I told him I would give him whatever he wanted in exchange for a job.  

"He arranged everything.  I was given a position, and he told me that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone who had enlisted me.  He overrode the systems and added me into the database.  He said that falsified files were easy to recognize so he would just leave my records blank and let everyone think a mishap had wiped them out.  Peavey said that everyone who needed to know about my Resistance past would be told about it.  I assumed that meant everyone in command.  He told me that it wasn't a confidential matter, but it might be in my best interest to keep it quiet because the other officers wouldn't like the idea of having Rebel scum in their ranks."

Hux was seething, furious that this had happened under his command.  Peavey was on the advisory council.  He had been a valued officer during the war.  The fact that he had been subversive and devious in the past meant he had the potential to do it again.  It was time to be rid of the scheming traitor.

Hux turned his attention to Kylo Ren.  "Would you be interested in a position on the Imperial Advisory Council?" 

An unsettlingly dark grin spread across Ren's face.  "It would be my honor,  _Emperor_."

"Do you understand what this entails?" he asked for assurance that the man understood.

"Yes, I understand.  I assume I'll be replacing Peavey because he's proved himself unworthy of the position.  I also assume that he won't be given the opportunity to leave his post voluntarily."

"Oh, there will be no offers of resignation."

"Am I to deliver his termination notice personally?" Ren asked, the tone of his voice conveying that he most certainly understood what Hux was asking of him.

"Yes, I believe that would be the most efficient way to go about it.  This shouldn't be tied up in bureaucracy.  It's best if the matter is handled directly.  I would do it myself, but I'm sure you understand why that's not possible."

"It wouldn't reflect well on the administration for the Emperor to involve himself with such...  _trivial_  matters when he has a galaxy to oversee.  I'm more than happy to take care of the problem.  In fact, if you'll give me leave, I think it might be best to deal with matters before the sun rises."  With a smirk he added, "After all, we don't want him reporting to work tomorrow morning."

"Do what needs to be done."

Everyone in the room shared in the heavy silence for a long moment, drinking in the knowledge of what had been revealed and what would soon happen.  Edrison Peavey was found dead the next morning with a cauterized hole in his chest.


	41. Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Hux to act.

"Something is burdening you."

Hux clenched his fists nervously.  "Nothing of importance, Supreme Leader."

Snoke tilted his head suspiciously.  "What is it that distracts you so much?"

Did Snoke know?  Was it possible that he was aware of the scheming Hux had done with Kylo Ren?  Had the Knight delivered the information personally to his Master?  Hux stood anxiously rooted to the spot before a giant holotransmission of the Supreme Leader.  Every slight movement, every inconsequential change in tone, every miniscule gesture – Hux wondered if each one was a sign that he had been found out.  Everything was sure to come toppling down around him.  It was wrong to be scheming.  It made him no better than Peavey.

The Supreme Leader frowned disapprovingly at Hux's silence.

Hux shrugged off the cacophony of worries that rang out in his head.  With a thin, grim smile he half-lied, "Marital problems."

"Be careful that your private life does not interfere with your leadership.  Distractions will get in the way of rebuilding the galaxy.  Whatever problems you may have, deal with them.  I won't tolerate your marriage taking away from your ability to rule the galaxy."

"It won't, Supreme Leader.  The matter will soon be resolved."

"Good."

When the holotransmission ended, Hux sighed with relief.  He was still alive, which was more than he was counting on.  There had been no guarantee that he would make it through a conversation with Snoke with his life intact – not with the plans that were being laid in place.  If the Supreme Leader had caught so much as a whiff of conspiracy, Hux would have been dead for sure.   For now, though, he was alive.  Being alive meant the plan was still a secret.

Hux sent for Kylo Ren.  It was time to set things in motion.


End file.
